Lanikai blitzes to Duke race win

An observer on Waikiki Beach accurately described Lanikai’s dominant performance via a rhetorical question on a sweltering Sunday morning to begin the long-distance outrigger canoe paddling season.

“Did you guys have a motor on the back of the canoe? Damn, you were fast!”

The green-and-white clad Lanikai Canoe Club’s top crew sprinted to victory at the 50th edition of the Duke Kahanamoku Long Distance Race, a 26-mile trek from Kailua to Waikiki Beach held Sunday as thousands of supporters and onlookers watched from the sand. Lanikai crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 47 minutes and 23 seconds — the fastest finish this decade — and held off Team Primo (2:50:18), Hui Nalu (2:51:49), Red Bull Wa‘a (2:52:18), Lanikai’s second crew (2:58:48) and Outrigger (2:59:51).

“We train in these conditions all the time, and today wasn’t particularly outrageous, but any time you’re out there, it’s pretty tough,” said Lanikai’s Jack Roney, who was joined in the victorious canoe by Matt Crowley, Nick Foti, Matt Mench, Andreas Gaeta, Levi-Jordan Goeas, Manny Kulukulualani, Karel Tresnak Jr. and Chauncy Cody. “We have a new coach in Karel Tresnak Sr., and we’ve been grinding all summer throughout the regatta season. We worked our butts off, and this is the first step towards Molokai.”

Team Primo finished fourth in last year’s Molokai Hoe, and was the top finisher from Hawaii. They, like other elite crews in the state, will continue to fine-tune crew combinations and rotations over the next seven weeks.

“There’s an enormous respect that we have for those guys, and I think it goes both ways,” said Roney of the rivalry with Team Primo, which is based in Wailea, Maui, and includes paddlers from across the state. “It’s definitely a statement to do as well as we did, but I know they’ll be very hungry the next time out. We need to keep working within our system, training hard with 100 percent dedication and it’ll all come down to Molokai.”

The competition featured 50 crews that maneuvered through a course spanning from Kailua Beach, around Makapu‘u, past Hawaii Kai and Diamond Head, and finished adjacent to the pier on Duke Kahanamoku Beach fronting the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. Across the board, crews began the process of fine-tuning their blend and technique in anticipation of the Molokai Hoe on Sunday, Oct. 8. Competitors from around the world will attempt to knock off the Tahitians, who have won the prestigious competition 11 consecutive times.

Team Primo was composed of veteran paddlers Carlos Gomes, Mael Carey, Kekupa‘a Nae‘ole, Kekoa Cramer, Kai Bartlett, Patrick Dolan, Ryan Dolan, Bobby Pratt and Tenati Fareea. The crew members train individually year round, and come together occasionally for full-squad practices and races.

“It was fun today, Lanikai did a really good job,” said Fareea, who is originally from Tahiti but resides on Maui. “We’re looking forward to longer training sessions together in the open ocean.”

Sunday’s race marked the beginning of the long-distance campaign and was held two weeks after paddlers completed the regatta sprint season.

On Sunday, the women will take to the water for the annual Dad Center Race from Kailua Beach to the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki. Crews will target Team Bradley, which has claimed nine of the last 11 Na Wahine O Ke Kai titles — including six straight Molokai-to-Oahu crowns from 2005 to 2010.