Challenge accepted

Jackson Maynard and Lincoln Dews traveled from Australia to challenge each other in the Waterman Challenge on Sunday at Fort DeRussy Beach.

Maynard, of Currumbin, won the three-discipline event by holding off Dews, of Sunset Coast. Maynard finished in 22 minutes, 12 seconds, with Dews crossing the finish line in 22:17. Brian Murphy, of Redondo Beach, Calif., placed third in 22:48.

"Oh, man, I’m over the moon," Maynard said. "It’s so fun to be over here and racing against the caliber of people here."

The challenge consisted of a 500-meter swim, 1,000-meter prone paddleboard and 1,500-meter stand-up paddleboard all run in succession. It capped the two-day Quiksilver Waterman Collection Waikiki Paddle Festival.

On the women’s side, San Diego’s Gillian Gibree won in 24:16. Honolulu’s Morgan Hoesterey, who said she made "an epic fail move" along the course, finished second in 24:20, and Alison Riddle, also of Honolulu, placed third in 24:50.

Maynard, 20, held a 10-foot lead on Dews as they circled the final buoy on their stand-up paddleboards and headed toward the beach. Maynard slowly pulled away and led by 20 feet as he hit the beach and ran toward the finish line.

"I knew I had to get Jackson early in the swim," Dews said. "I was with him and then he just kicked away. I worked really hard to get back in the prone leg. On the last leg, he just kicked again and it was all over."

Maynard lives on the east coast of Australia, and Dews, 16, resides on the west, but both are familiar with each other.

"We’ve competed in a few races in the Surf Club Series (in Australia) this year and it’s pretty cool we were in this race as well," Dews said.

Maynard won all three events he competed in over the weekend. He also captured the prone paddleboard buoy course race Saturday and the 10-mile prone paddleboard distance race earlier Sunday.

Maynard added that prone paddleboarding is his "bread and butter."

He said events like the Waterman Challenge are gaining in popularity in Australia.

"It’s growing now," Maynard said. "There are a ton of races up and down the coasts of Australia, the east coast and the west. But I only do about three or four a year."

In the women’s challenge, the 27-year-old Gibree rallied to victory.

"I didn’t think I would even place because I was so far behind (in fifth place) after the prone," she said. "I just kept digging and I was very fortunate there were three laps on the stand-up."

Riddle, the third-place finisher, led for most of the event with Hoesterey, 31, close behind.

The paddlers were supposed to do left-shoulder turns around the buoys, which were set 250 meters apart.

Going into the second lap, Hoesterey said she started to go around the buoy the wrong way and had to correct herself.

"I didn’t want to give it all out on the first leg," Hoesterey said. "The prone, I knew that if I just stayed with the first person, I felt I could get them on stand-up. I made sort of an epic fail move on the stand-up when I went around the buoy the wrong way."

Hoesterey, who added that she didn’t want to take anything away from Gibree’s victory, said she lost 20 to 30 seconds because of the error. Gibree quickly took the lead and held off Hoesterey for the victory.

Gibree, who also won the Survivor SUP event Saturday, said: "(The Waterman Challenge) is great for the spectators. I think this will help the sport grow and attract more people to it. It’s good to see all the different athletes out there."