Ex-Punahou student nearly wins ‘Ninja’

With the finals of “American Ninja Warrior” boasting two competitors with isle ties, including the event’s runner-up, Hawaii can call itself a breeding ground for obstacle course success.

Geoff Britten, a 36-year-old TV sports cameraman who grew up in Hawaii but lives in Baltimore, made history last week by becoming the first person to complete the course in the show’s seven-year run on NBC. Unfortunately for Britten, the next competitor, Isaac Caldiero, finished about 3.5 seconds faster.

Caldiero, a busboy from Colorado, won $1 million for his feat.

Also competing in the finals was Grant McCartney, a 27-year-old Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant from Knoxville, Tenn., who lives in Pauoa.

Anyone who has seen even a few minutes of “American Ninja Warrior” knows that to simply finish one of its daunting obstacle courses is a triumph. Competitors fling themselves across pools of water, hang by their fingertips, scale curved walls and swing from bars that swivel.

According to NBC, more than 700 aspiring ninjas competed this season. Contestants who advanced through regional events earlier this year competed in the show’s final four stages in Las Vegas in July. The finals aired over three Mondays, finishing Sept. 14.

Britten’s strength comes from rock climbing, said his father, Alan Britten.

For his 14th birthday the younger Britten wanted rock climbing lessons, so his parents sent him to a rock climbing school in Colorado.

In Hawaii he went to Punahou, where he was a pole vaulter, but his love was scaling rock faces. His wife, Jessica, is also a climber as well as a former “American Ninja Warrior” competitor, and their 6-year-old daughter, Allison, also climbs.

McCartney was one of 38 people who advanced to the second stage at the Las Vegas finals. But as a noisy crowd urged him on, including cheers from friends who had flown to Vegas for the event, McCartney lost focus on the second obstacle and fell into a pool of water.

“I got really pumped, and in that moment I was like, ‘Oh my gosh I got to go!’” he said. “And I just rushed the next move. And then I fell. It was a long way down. It felt like an hour went by before I hit the water.”

McCartney has been an all-around athlete much of his life — football, baseball, basketball, soccer, one season after the other when he was growing up. In college at the University of Tennessee, he played rugby, and still enjoys pickup games, he said.

He moved to Hawaii after graduating, and these days gets his strength from surfing, skateboarding and climbing routines. He also has obstacles built at his home.

But his success this season drew from a spiritual side. Last year his mother died in April, and his grandmother about three months later. McCartney spent a lot of time caring for them and in the process realized that he needed goals because life was too unpredictable.

“It was a pretty sad time,” he said. “I am not a sad dude, but I was pretty tore up. I would cry in my sleep, which I didn’t know was possible.”

His first goal was to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, which he did. His second was to be on “American Ninja Warrior,” which brought family members to events, gathering for a reason other than grief.

“It was a wonderful time,” he said. “It was finally something good for my family to get around.”