WAIKOLOA — Some splashed, some dashed. Others crawled, skipped and scrambled.
It was all in play at the 18th annual Lavakids Aquathlon on Saturday morning, an event that sent more than 100 keiki off on a course around the Hilton Waikoloa Village lagoon.
The various routes involved a short dash for the littlest keiki, a 100-meter swim and 1K run for the 7-10 year olds, and a 200-meter swim and 2K run for the 11-14 year olds.
“It can’t get much better than this as a kid, right?” Lavakids program director Jennie Barto said. “A beach, a waterfall and turtles. It’s great to see them all out here smiling.”
The athletes — many who have parents in today’s Olympic distance Lavaman race — came from as far as Alaska and Canada for the run-swim event. But there was plenty of local talent on display as well, including a large contingent from Academy Swim Club in Waimea.
“It was awesome,” Maile Imonen, 12, and Rosey Wawner, 10, said almost simultaneously.
“I liked running the best,” added 8-year-old Tristan de Belligny. “No one is tugging at your feet.”
The group that gathered after the awards ceremony to chat about their experience also included Kela (9) and Tulsi Quayle (7) and Tiffany Ravaglia (11). Each took away their own lessons from the race, which ranged from not standing up too soon when reaching the beach on the swim, to pacing themselves on the run.
But why wake up early for a race instead of sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal on a Saturday morning?
“I wanted to be strong today,” de Belligny said.
As usual, the turtles were a point of conversation among many of the competitors, although most were doing their best impression of a speedy hare.
In the 11-14 wave of racers, Aiden Ankrum finished with the fastest time of 8 minutes and 52 seconds. Close behind were Kouske Soler (8:54) and Archer Ankrum (9:00). Cadence Stull and Megan McLaughlin tied with the top time among the girls (9:28), with Tiffany Ravaglia coming in third overall (9:52) and first in her 11-12 age group.
Among the 7-10 year olds, Zane Imonen blasted through the course in 4:41 for first. Sequoia Barretto (4:43) and Austin Llanes (5:00) finished second and third overall, respectively. De Belligny was first overall in the 1-8 division.