Kualapu`u School’s 5K Team Races on Oahu

Kualapu`u School News Release

The Kualapu`u School 5K team raced against a strong field of Oahu runners in the Honolulu 5K for Kids held on Sunday, April 27. Keahe Ross was the top finisher from Molokai finishing in 25:01 for third place in her age group.  The next three Kualapu`u School runners ran the course together finishing within 23 seconds of each other.  First in the pack of Kualapu`u runners was Namaka Ross finishing in a time of 28:37, good for 10<sup>th</sup> in his age division.  Close on his heels came Kapili`ula Naehu in a time of 28:59, good for seventh in the girl’s 11-12s.  One tick back of Kapili`ula came Nico Wittenberg, who finished in 29 minutes flat.  Nico placed eighth in the boy’s 11-12 division. The final runner crossing the finish line for Kualapu`u School was Dyllan Alavazo, who finished in a time of 31:33 earning 15^th in his age group.

These are all terrific results in light of the depth of the field with more than 600 runners competing, the travel involved, and the late start for the runners who didn’t realize that there was not a start mat this year.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with larger race events, customarily electronic timing is used to calculate a runner’s time based upon the difference between the time when the runner crosses the start mat and the time when the runner crosses the finish mat.  This type of timing is used to alleviate start line congestion.  This year there was not a start mat.  Our runners politely started at the back of the field without realizing that there had been a change in timing procedures this year.  Roughly a minute went by before our runners cleared the start line.  Unfortunately, this minute was not later subtracted from their times; unfortunate, but all in all, a good learning experience.

At this time, the team would like to send out a big mahalo to our supporters:  Kauwela Kalawe, who loaned the team her car for transportation on Oahu;  Gandharva Ross for helping to chaperone the runners;  Penny Duvauchelle, Ian Haskins, Ryan Link, and Sue Forbes-Kikukawa for contributing class funds to make the trip possible; Mary Anne Nowakowski, our mainland sponsor; and all of the entry-fee paying adult runners who came to one or more of our races.  We could not have done it without you; thank you for your helping us travel to Oahu to race in this year’s 5K for Kids!