After spending the summer focusing on the regatta season, paddlers are starting to make the transition from sprints to longer, more grueling races that provide the ultimate test of strength and endurance.

Team Ray took advantage of relatively calm ocean conditions and kicked off the distance season on Sunday with a victory in the fourth annual Keehi Ironman Challenge. The crew completed the course in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 1 second to claim the open division and the coveted koa paddle award, while Na Keiki O Ka Moi (2:34:26) finished second overall and took the men’s 40 division. Ka Mamalahoe rounded out the top three, and claimed the men’s 65 division after crossing the line in 2:38:21.

"We’re pretty excited. This gives us a chance to test where we are going into the distance season," Team Ray steersman Nick Youngleson said. "There was definitely some surf out there. We saw a couple other crews take it on the head."

The 15-mile race started at Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai and finished at Keehi Lagoon. Thirty-two crews entered the race, and traveled around Diamond Head, entered the lagoon just before the airport’s reef runway, passed through the small boat harbor nicknamed "Sailboat Alley," and finished near the lagoon’s beach.

The scenery was familiar to Team Ray’s crew of Youngleson, Chauncey Cody, James Ruvio, Keith Cutler, Dave Pohar and Csaba Kutrovic. They also represented Lanikai Canoe Club in the regatta season, which came to a dramatic close over the weekend. At Saturday’s Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta, also at Keehi Lagoon, Lanikai claimed its third state title in five years.

"That was just a warm-up for today," said Youngleson of Saturday’s sprints. "We just want to keep rolling from here, one at a time. Now it’s on to the next one."

While many of the state’s top crews will not race competitively until the Duke Kahanamoku Race on Aug. 19 (men) and the Dad Center Race on Aug. 26 (women), Sunday’s event gave paddlers an opportunity to shake off any rust and transition from sprint races — the longest of which is only 1.5 miles.

"It was actually an easy course. There were rollers (waves) from Hawaii Kai to Diamond Head," said Ka Moi coach and paddler Joe Kanana after congratulating his crew on the runner-up finish. "And, once we made the turn heading toward Sand Island, the water just flattened out. But Team Ray was just too strong.

"This was actually our first practice, just to see where we’re at. Going forward, we’ll work on the little things, and use each race as a learning experience. This is a benchmark for us, though, because it’s been a while since Ka Moi put a distance crew together."

The crew from Kalihi Kai "Kapuwai" claimed the women’s open division, finishing 13th overall in 2:49:56. Ka Mamalahoe took first in the women’s 50 division, finishing in 3:03:46.

Other division winners included: New Hope’s men’s 50 crew (2:51:02), Ka Mamalahoe’s men’s 55 crew (2:40:38), Waikiki Beach Boys’ open mixed crew (2:40:05), Alapa Hoe’s mixed 40 crew (2:59:43), and New Hope’s mixed 55 crew (2:41:21).