Awesome, exciting, scary … gnarly.

Paddlers from Outrigger Canoe Club recalled vividly the conditions of the 44th Dad Center Race on Sunday using the aforementioned descriptors — and a few other colorful ones — and were rightfully relieved after eking out a grueling win.

Outrigger built a small lead near the lighthouse at Diamond Head and labored to hold off Team Bradley and Lanikai down the stretch. About 200 yards from the finish line, Team Bradley, which led early on, caught and rode two waves to negate what was a comfortable advantage built by Outrigger. The impressive surfing exhibition allowed Team Bradley to pull within a boat’s length of Outrigger, but the red-and-white canoe’s squad held on to claim the victory as the exhausted paddlers could finally relax.

>> Click here to see photos of the 44th Dad Center Race.

Outrigger defended its title and notched the win in 3 hours, 22 minutes and 37 seconds and fended off Team Bradley (3:37:32), which was bumped by officials to fifth place in the open division due to a penalty for having an unauthorized escort boat on the course. Lanikai (3:24:19) took second, while Hui Nalu (3:24:36) and Maui Jim (3:28:03) also battled in the open division’s lead pack. The crew of Angela Dolan, Aulani Hall, Donna Kahakui, Nahoku Keala, Liat Portner, Kahala Schneider, Mary Smolenski, Beata Cseke, Anella Borges and steerswoman Rachel Bruntsch established positive momentum for Outrigger as the long-distance campaign heats up.

“We were running scared for sure, and we said ‘We gotta go!’ because they were making a move on us,” said Bruntsch, who had the best view of Bradley’s approach from the back of Outrigger’s canoe. “I turned around and see their boat dropping in, and if the race was any longer, they would have taken it, but we were able to hold on.”

The race marked the first full-field competition of the women’s long-distance paddling season and featured 45 crews that traversed a 25-mile course spanning from Kailua Beach, wrapping around Makapu‘u and Diamond Head and finishing in the waters fronting Kaimana Beach and the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki. Last year’s race was canceled due to the potentially hazardous conditions from then-Hurricane Lane.

Paddlers endured strong currents and blustery conditions that provided resistance throughout the race and manageable but “sloshing” surf while approaching and rounding Makapu‘u that segued to sloppy, churning “washing machine” water down the home stretch. Clear skies made for a hot, humid day, and the nuances of paddling including hydration, bailing water from the canoe and efficient crew changes were magnified.

Team Bradley won this event in 2009 and again in 2013 before reclaiming the title in 2016. The crew features an experienced group of paddlers from across the state and bears the name of outrigger canoe maker Sonny Bradley.

The Bradley squad has won 11 of the last 13 Na Wahine O Ke Kai races, including a streak of six straight titles from 2005-2010. Sunday’s Team Bradley crew included Lori Nakamura, Lauren Spalding, Mahealani Botelho, Ka‘ulu Lu‘uwai, Kristin Foster, Monica Esquivel, Claire Ing, Cherisse Agorastos, Andrea Moller-Bouwens and Alana Goo-Frazier.

“They were in front until after we rounded Makapu‘u, then we started making money. We had a lead, but then they caught back up and it turned into a battle,” said Bruntsch. “I was scared the whole time because I know they’re the best. There was a lot of action out there, it was a good day.”

Sunday’s race was named after George David “Dad” Center, a premier waterman in the same era as Duke Kahanamoku who headed the Outrigger Canoe Club’s water programs.

In 1943, Outrigger fielded its first women’s crew, and in 1974, the first women’s long-distance race sanctioned by the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association was held in memory of Center and his work in advancing women’s paddling. At the time, the course spanned 8 miles from Maunalua Bay to Outrigger, and was expanded to its current distance in 1979.

Outrigger retained the Thomas H. Richert trophy, which is awarded to the race’s open division winner each year. The cup was donated by Outrigger paddler Tiare Richert Finney, whose mother Loretta Turnbull won what was originally dubbed the Conte Theo Rossi Cup in 1932 as reward for victory in Italian speedboat racing.

The long-distance season consists of four large-scale preliminary races on Oahu — two men’s and two women’s events —followed by the Na Wahine O Ke Kai (Sept. 22) and Molokai Hoe (Oct. 13): the women’s and men’s versions of the 41-mile Molokai-to-Oahu race regarded as the sport’s world championships. In distance races, crews are accompanied by motored escort boats and are allowed to substitute paddlers along the way to provide athletes with breaks.

After this weekend’s Queen Liliuokalani Race held in the waters off Kona, the women will return to action on Sept. 8 for the E Lau Hoe race, which follows a course from Kailua Beach to Sand Island. The men will compete on Sept. 15 in the Henry Ayau Memorial Race from Maunalua Bay to Nanakuli Beach.

“We have a lot of work to do still, focusing on our conditioning and the little details, but this is a positive start,” said Bruntsch.