Rainy conditions did not stop Waikoloa’s Sam Anderson-Moxley and Papaaloa’s Melissa Schad from repeating as overall male and female champions at Saturday’s Hilo Climbing Time Trial.
The 12-mile cycling hill climb event began at Komohana and Puainako Street in Hilo, and featured a total elevation gain of 2,521 feet and 44 registered participants.
“It was wet but not very windy,” said event organizer Tom Solis of the Hawaii Cycling Club. “Not as wet, and definitely not as windy as Kua Bay (cycling time trial) in March. I think during the ride, most riders appreciated the coolness. This is a hard climb and when racing up this hill, the riders heat up a lot, but yesterday, the rain helped to keep their body temperatures down. Last year, I understand, was hot which made the race harder.”
Anderson-Moxley, who won with a time of 48 minutes, 43 seconds, said in addition to the wet roads, the windy conditions and suffering a flat tire were factors toward his slightly slower time than last year.
“The biggest issue with riding in the rain like yesterday is that a lot of debris washes onto the side of the road,” Anderson-Moxley said. “I actually got a puncture during the race and had to pull out my CO2 and tire plug but luckily, the tire sealed without losing too much air and I didn’t lose too much time. The wind was also against us this year, so I wasn’t able to beat my record that I set last year.”
Kailua-Kona’s Sean Maynard was next to power through the finish line in 51:11, with Collen Kelton rounding out the men’s top three in 55:44.
While most participants finished with slower times than last year, Papaaloa’s Melissa Schad actually bettered her time — crediting cooler conditions and an improved overall fitness level toward her new personal best of 1:07:01.
“I definitely loved the hill climb, I love to climb hills and challenge myself,” said Schad, who shredded eight minutes and 44 seconds off her time from last year. “I won it last year during the pandemic with not a lot of people showing up. So, I came out not to win it again, but to see what my year worth of training would do and to see if I could beat last year’s time. That was my intention for yesterday’s race and I totally did that, so I was blown away by how fast I went.”
Schad added that in 24 years of cycling and using other people’s hand-me-downs, she recently purchased her first new triathlon bike — a Canyon Speedmax — two weeks before June’s Ironman 70.3 Hawaii race. And it certainly paid off as after a year of training with a goal to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in September, she finally secured her spot on the start line in St. George, Utah.
“It’s pretty cool, and I’m looking forward to it!”
Kailua-Kona’s Laura Yamasaki and Laura Birse secured the next two female spots with their times of 1:13:32 and 1:21:04 respectively.
Anderson-Moxley said he plans to conquer a long-sought goal over the next few weeks before the eighth-grade science teacher and full-time student returns to the mainland to finish his Masters degree in education with an emphasis in equity and social justice.
The Waikoloa resident will attempt to beat the fastest known time from Anaehoomalu Bay to the peak of Mauna Kea — a 62-mile Strava KOM record set in December 2016 by well-known California professional cyclist, Phil Gaimon, who currently holds the record of 4 hours, 50 minutes and 9 seconds.
“My wife will be starting her marine biology degree at the University of Hawaii Hilo, so I’ll be back to visit as much as possible and I’ll race here when I can,” he said. “I was really looking forward to Sea to Stars but unfortunately, I will miss it. I will be doing my own Sea to Stars type effort and attempt to take the fastest known time from A-Bay up to the peak of Mauna Kea in the next couple weeks. Wish me luck!”
