KAILUA-KONA — To the victors go the spoils — and the crowns.
Sean Reilly and Ku’ulei Patterson zoomed through the 1.2-mile King’s Swim on Saturday morning, taking the top titles at the 24th edition of the storied Kailua Bay race and subsequently putting a stamp on their Triple Crown campaigns.
Reilly blazed through the course in 23 minutes and 21 seconds — shattering the previous 25-29 age-group record by more than 30 seconds — capturing his first victory on the Triple Crown circuit.
Patterson clocked a time of 24:38 for top female honors, besting second-place finisher Alyssa Foo (24:50) and Taylor Doherty (25:00).
The King’s Swim is the final leg of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, presented by Bike Works.
The crown is awarded to the male and female swimmers who record the fastest cumulative times in the three qualifying races — the Cinco de Mayo Splash, the Hapuna Rough Water Swim (both 1-mile races) and the King’s Swim.
Reilly, who swam collegiately at the University of Hawaii, finished second at the Cinco swim by just three seconds, and likely would have been a podium finisher at Hapuna if not for a missed buoy mishap.
This time, he kept it straightforward, edging out second-place finisher Aiden Ankrum (23:23) — the Hapuna champ — and visiting Washington swimmer Aidan Davis (23:26) to Kamakahonu Beach for the King’s Swim win.
“I had no idea what anyone else was doing until about the halfway point. I felt Aiden touch my toes and I was like, ‘Oh, there they are,’” Reilly said. “We were pretty much all together coming in and threaded the buoys. I was happy to be able to pull it off at the end.”
At Hapuna, Reilly was among a group of lead swimmers that had to backtrack after missing the final buoy. Asked if that mistake lingered at all heading into the final race of the series, Reilly could only laugh.
“Nah, not at all,” he said with a smile. “I just should have listened better.”
In the race for the Triple Crown, Reilly faced an 11 second deficit on Kanoa Birdsall heading into the King’s Swim. He made that up and more with his first-place finish, recording a cumulative time of 1:07:42 between the three races.
Ankrum finished second (1:07:58), and Birdsall (1:08:15) settled for third.
Originally from California, Reilly spent the last 10 years or so on Oahu before moving to the Big Island. He is now a coach with the Kona Dolphins swim club and said being in that position is what really drove him to get out and take on the Triple Crown trek.
“I just wanted to do this with my swimmers. As a coach, there’s no better way than to lead by example,” Reilly said. “My goal is to take all the expertise I have gathered over the years and to pass it along to the younger generations.”
Coincidentally, it was Patterson — a Kona Dolphins swimmer — who handily took home the Triple Crown on the women’s side with her three-race time of 1:10:50. She won both the King’s Swim and the Cinco, while finishing second at Hapuna.
Noelani Vargas was second at 1:13:01 among the women in the Triple Crown chase, while Brenda Avery (1:13:24) was third.
It was the second Triple Crown for Patterson, who also won in 2016, and it’s safe to say the incoming Kealakehe senior sets a high bar for herself.
“The Triple Crown is a great honor, but never really the goal,” Patterson said. “I just try to think of every race as a process of getting better. If I keep improving in each race, I’m happy.”
The King’s Swim was moved from its traditional date of the Fourth of July to accommodate for a cruise ship coming to town. But despite the move from the holiday, the race welcomed a healthy crowd of nearly 200 swimmers and the conditions couldn’t have been better.
“We had a terrific day — clear skies and great water,” said Steve Borowski, the King’s Swim maestro and head coach of Kona Aquatics, the host club. “This race is in honor of King Kamehameha and that’s the whole reason we have it finish at Kamakahonu. It has really become a fun tradition.”
The race welcomed swimmers of all expertise to take on the route, and Kailua-Kona’s Lynn Holman was among those making their debut.
Holman was diagnosed with a tumor in her spinal cord and surgery last year left her unable to walk. But that didn’t stop her from getting in the water.
Holman completed the swim in 1:06:28, and when she reached the shore to loud applause and a cheering section made up of water patrol behind her, it provided the inspirational moment of the morning.
“When you are in the water, it feels like nothing is wrong,” Holman said. “I’ve done this distance in the pool but it was my first time in the ocean here since the surgery. It’s just so much more fun swimming in the ocean. You never know what you are going to see out there — maybe a school of fish or even a dolphin. ”
And the fun might not stop there, with Holman having her eyes on completing the Triple Crown.
“Maybe next year I’ll get out to all three,” she said.
