KAILUA-KONA » The Queen Lili‘uokalani Canoe Race, long billed as "the world’s largest long-distance canoe race," broke its own record this Labor Day weekend, with 142 men’s crews and 137 women’s crews in its centerpiece six-man canoe race.

The largest-ever participation came on the race’s 40th anniversary, said Bo Campos, president of Kai ‘Opua Canoe Club, the host of the three-day event that includes races for one-man, two-man, six-man and double-hull (12-man) canoes, plus standup paddleboard competitions.

The Queen Lili‘uokalani race is unusual among Hawaiian outrigger canoe races, most of which are interisland channel races or shoreline races mostly attended by residents of the host island, Campos said as festivities swirled around him Saturday at race headquarters, King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel.

It holds special significance as the only canoe race named after a chiefess, said Hannah Springer, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner who blessed the canoes and paddlers Saturday morning to open the event.

"We continue to hold up Liliuokalani as a role model of dignity, grace and aloha in a time of trial," said Springer, whose father, Felipe Springer, was among the Kai ‘Opua members who began the race in 1971.

Canoe paddling remains a very concrete connection for Hawaiians with their past — and a way for non-Hawaiians to learn about the culture, Springer said. "It’s absolutely great to see the culture continue this way," Springer said. "May it long be so."

Springer especially loves to "see all the colors of the canoe gunwales at Honaunau," and to witness the "multigenerational, multinational assemblage of people."

"Ohana wa‘a (the canoe family) is truly a world family," said Kimokeo "Uncle Bully" Kapahulehua, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner and member of Kihei Canoe Club on Maui.

On Saturday night, 500 or more paddlers made their way down Alii Drive in the event’s traditional torchlight parade. Though their clothing was of the 21st century, the fiery glow cast by bamboo torches in the falling dark created an image of old Hawaii.

Other aspects that make "the Liliuo" unique include the volume of mainland and international paddlers attending — about 40 percent of race participants in recent years, Campos said. Paddlers came from England, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and several Pacific island nations — as well as from every coast of the U.S. mainland. Paddlers ranged in age from teenagers to kupuna in their 70s, with prizes awarded in open classes and by age division.

The 40th anniversary was marked by a drawing for a brand-new six-man canoe, which was won by a canoe club from Brisbane, Australia. It also honored former Kai ‘Opua men’s coach Clement "Junior" Keli‘ipoaimoku Kanuha, who died of cancer in December.

The now-massive event began as a long-distance training race for the storied Molokai channel races in late September (for women) and early October (for men). Kai ‘Opua Canoe Club chose Labor Day weekend as a good time and named it after Hawaii’s last queen, whose birthday is Sept. 2.

But the event quickly grew from a handful of Big Island canoe clubs to a celebration of all things relating to the state’s official team sport.

"We try to keep adding new things," Campos said, including a combination canoe race and cultural scavenger hunt dubbed the Alii Challenge.

"Competitiveness always will go with canoe paddling," Campos said, "but to me it’s a cultural thing first and always will be."

The main race goes between two historic landmarks: Kamakahonu Bay, King Kamehameha’s capital for Hawaii in 1812-19; and Pu‘uhonua O Honaunau National Park, 18 miles away. Six-man crews may either paddle the race "iron," with six paddlers for the entire distance, or nine paddlers who change out from an accompanying escort boat.

The race has a high number of traditional koa canoes attending, because the generally calm waters of the Kona Coast are safe for the prized treasures. There’s even a separate "unlimited" class for new superlight canoes made with high-tech materials and unconventional designs.

"I’m glad they named this race after one of our leaders of old," said Bobby Puakea, whose Oahu-based Puakea Foundation is devoted to perpetuating Pacific Islands canoe culture through building wood canoes and paddles.

Seeing so many koa canoes at the race gives him a special feeling, he said.

A spirit of camaraderie and fellowship pervades the races alongside the competitive spirit, with out-of-state canoes generally borrowing canoes from Hawaii clubs and sometimes forming teams that blend paddlers from different clubs, islands or even nations.

Stephen Wade, 64, of Noosa Heads, Australia, was thrilled that his team of men 60 and older took second place in their age division for the 18-mile iron race. His wife, Janina, paddled with a group of women from Kauai.

The Puakea Foundation helped orient a team of 41 blind paddlers from the Newport Aquatic Club in California to aspects of Hawaiian culture before their races — and arranged for them to use a koa canoe.

"After I lost my sight 16 years ago, I never thought I’d do competitive athletics again," said blind paddler Tony Davis, 63, of Anaheim. But now he has a team sport that he can enjoy without vision.

Steve Wapner, 59, of Maui said that as he struggles with health problems, including terminal liver cancer, paddling literally is keeping him alive.

"Medically, I’m a basket case," he said. "Paddling has become my physical therapy. This is keeping me alive."

Lifetime Kona resident Lee Ann Alani, 35, didn’t start paddling canoe until 11 years ago. But growing up she was well aware that the Queen Lili‘uokalani Race was an occasion for partying in Kailua-Kona for locals and visiting paddlers alike.

"I remember going to church on Saturdays growing up and seeing all the canoes out there and I thought, ‘Someday I’m going to do this.’" On Saturday, Alani’s six-woman crew took second place in the open women’s division for her home club, Kai ‘Opua.

Darcy Daniel, 44, started paddling canoe with Kai ‘Opua when she moved to Kailua-Kona from the desert of Needles, Calif., in 2000. Her over-40 crew came in first in its division and eighth among women overall in the main race Saturday.

The canoe ohana "has been a good way to meet people," said Daniel. "These are the people I spend my time with. Everyone is family-oriented, athletically oriented and culturally oriented. It’s a great blend of everything that Hawaii puts out there."

Each year’s Queen Lili‘uokalani Race is like a family reunion of people from around the state and the world who have met through paddling, Daniel said.

For King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel, canoe culture is part of its everyday life, with Kai ‘Opua and other clubs storing canoes on the beach there. But the Queen Lili‘uokalani Race in particular is "a great thing for the hotel," said Deanna Isbister, hotel sales director. "It really bonds us with the community,"

Paddlers filled most of the hotel’s 452 rooms this weekend and were very approving of the nearly complete $7 million worth of restoration after damage from the March tsunami, she said.