Big Kahuna 2012

September 9th was the FirstWave Events’ annual half ironman distance, the Big Kahuna.  We had four SCE members participating in the race.  Johan, Julian and Elise as individual racers, and Nick participated as a part of a Santa Cruz Triathlon Association men’s relay team.  (We have a lot of members who participate in both SCE and SCTA).

By 6/6:30am, we had all gathered in Depot Park to set up transition, before heading down to Santa Cruz’s Main Beach for the 1.2 mile swim start.

At 5am, transition was already happening

Elise, Johan and Julian before heading down to Main Beach for the Swim

At 7am, the first wave went off.  7:08 and Julian’s wave took off, 7:24 was Elise’s wave, and Johan was off at 7:32.  The swim is a 1.2 mile swim around the Main Beach pier at Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  The water was a balmy 57, and was actually quite refreshing.

All three individuals had strong swims.   Julian finished in 30:25, Johan in 31:56 and Elise in 35:38.

Up next was the 56 mile ride up Hwy 1.  This ride is no small feat.  While its not as brutal in terms of elevation gain as some half ironman distances, the headwinds going north on the first half the ride are brutal, and as the day goes on, the winds got stronger.  Of course this makes the ride fly on the way back, but makes for a trying first half the race.

Julian finished the ride in 2:26:39, Johan in 2:33:19, and Elise in 3:36:28.  At this point, Julian and Johan were killin’ it in their age classes.

 

Johan heading out from transition on the bike

 

Julian on the bike, riding into transition

 

Elise on the bike on Hwy 1

Up next was the 13.1 mile run.  Being veterans in the sport and knowing the course well, Julian and Johan once again soared through the run — Julian, in fact, had the second fasted run split of ALL those racing, posting a 1:25:48 half marathon time — an incredible feat at the end of a HIM.  Johan came in with a solid 1:44:27, and Elise finished her 13.1 miles with a 2:16:35.

 

Johan running to the finish

 

Julian nearing the beach finish

Elise running towards the finish

Overall we had a great showing by our SCE members.  Julian finished with an official time of 4:27:58, putting him 1st in his AG, and 6th OA.  Johan posted a 4:54:54, getting 4th in his AG and 32nd OA.  Elise finished her first HIM distance with a time of 6:41:20.

We also had some fabulous SCE members cheering out on the course.  Members Jenn and Meg came out on the run to cheer our racers in, in particular give Elise a little energy booster and let her know she could in fact finish the race.  Though there’s no photo evidence, they were there and much appreciated.  It always amazes me how supportive SCE members are of their others on the team – you can almost always count on at least one person being out there to cheer/volunteer at a race (especially in town), and its incredible how much a friendly face can spark an energy surge or remind you that ‘yes you can do this.’  So thanks, SCE, for being such a supportive team!

Johan and Elise at the finish line

Nick’s SCTA relay team also had a great showing, taking 2nd OA in men’s relay teams with a speedy time of 4:21:21, just 8 seconds shy of the 1st oA men’s relay team — talk about a close race!!!

Nick heading out on the bike portion for the SCTA relay “Team happygosmiling”

What a great (and hot) day for the Big Kahunas and SCE!