2010 Olukai Photos & Results

[Admin]

An awesome day of racing on Maui today with over 300 entries!  Details and photos coming, but here are some results to keep you up to date.

Men's Elite Unlimited

1. Livio Menelau
2. Danny Ching
3. Dave Kalama
4. Connor Baxter
5. Aaron Napoleon
6. Scott Trudon
7. Jeremy Riggs

Women's Elite Unlimited

1. Andrea Moeller
2. Devin Blish
3. Rachel Bruntsch
4. Dane Ward
5. Theresa Felgate
6. Chantalle Strome
7. Noelani Unger

[Admin]

Livio, has been all work and determination this year.  He can feel how close he is to realizing the payoff right here:



Danny Ching, looks back to check on Dave.



Dave, focused and grinding:



Connor and Aaron, blood battle for 4th:





Scott Trudon, last strokes before the run:



Jeremy, always on it:



Andrea pushing hard while Alan releases his leash in prep for the run.



To give some perspective on how close this was between the top talent, this shows the whole field (from Livio to Alan) approaching the finish (some of the racers are out of frame to the right):

[LaPerouseBay]

Wow, great pics.  Side by side around a bouy, THAT's racing!

Great to see the zoners in the top ten! Woo Hoo!

[StandUpPaddleSurf.net]

Chan - Awesome placing!

Rand - Is it just me or is everyone except Dave Kalama on a SIC?  Was Danny Ching on a SIC?

[JustPaddle]

They must all be custom. The color schemes are all different. Did Mark R, Slater Trout, or Ekolu Kalama race?

[Admin]

Mark R raced on a 12.  He did awesome as always and finished 2nd behind Greg Pavao in that class.  How about Bernd Roediger right there at the finish sporting the Mohawk?  He was on a little Naish and not only won his division, but hung with the big boys.  This is another young Maui multi sport phenom that we will be hearing a lot about in future years.



I believe Slater came in 10th, but quote me not.  



That's Tad Craig in the heli.  He was still buzzed by his flight after the event.  He said it was unreal and the speed and wash made it hard to hold his photo gear.



Jack Dyson won his division and put on a little gun show as well



Greg Pavao on a proto C4 took that class.  Junya McGurn right on him.



Devin Fighting it out with Michi Eskimo and Leaving Randy Royse with the "I got chicked" face.  JK, needless to say all of these guys were way up in a huge pack and were at the top of their games.



These two shots show the moment when the world changed for Livio Menelau.  Livio told me post-race that Danny Ching was ahead after a great start and was basically putting on a paddling clinic out in front. If that weren't bad enough, he was right there with Dave Kalama, who Livio regards as so strong and skilled that it momentarily held him back from being able to function, let alone advance.  But Livio caught a great glide which advanced him to alongside Danny, and once he was there his practice and training took over.  You can almost see Danny's thoughts in the second frame when he looks over and sees that Livio is with him, "really, I'm cranking this hard and this guy is still with me?".

[surfpainter]

Great report and photography. What a great day for a race!

[stoneaxe]

Looks like a blast....congrats all.

[SchUP]

Nice report Randy! 

[Admin]

SRO in the Gulch:



Mark and Brenda (of Neptune Paddles), rockin' it old school:



Milton and Kaleo, talking hand theory:



Sean O takes a look:



Harold Iggy and Dave Wissink learn about pre-race relaxation:



12 boards and a cooler:



Go wide or go home:



Danny Ching.  You're welcome ladies.



Dave Ward gives a no vote to no prone category and joins in on the fun:



A tale of two Michi's:



The familia Roediger represents:



Tiff Ward:



Robby Seeger, ready for in water vids:



Ricky Balidoy:



Focus test:





Ralph Sifford races by Foote:



Design starts with a great tail:



Damn, Mira!  My neck hurts.



This should be some great vid:



The ladies know how to style it for an event:



Why men race:



C'mon, its art.



Jeremy and Randy Royse:



Jerry Bess, reeeeeped:



Mark R, Scott Trudon and Alan Cadiz:



Sharon Balidoy leads in an awesome Pule:





Jeremy borrowed Mark R's personal F-16 for this event (these guys like to mix it up):



Out to do it...

[Bolt Upright]

What a really fun event...Big Mahalos to Olu Kai for all the hard work and just being really nice people.

Yeah, I got chicked faced alright, but man she paddles strong... BTW she got 2nd place in Elite woman's.
So I'm cool with that... Great job Devin!!

All 4 of us raced together all most all the way down swapping positions back and forth. Caught some really
nice glides and would be ahead and then someone else would do the same.
 
Funny thing is last year Kalani from Kauai and I had exactly the same race even the time spread was close to
the same... he beat me last year too..ha

The most fun part was the 200 yard sprint to the finish where I pasted Devin and was trying like hell to stay in
front of Micky Eskimo and at the last 20 feet hit deep sand, had complete system failure and landed flat face first in the sand with Micky and Devin both really stoked passing me...neither one of them in my division...but
ah well, I got caught up in the moment. This seemed to be a real crowd pleaser for some unknown reason,
especially Slater who said I made his whole day....punk!!

To bad conditions weren't optimal... It sure wasn't a smoking run like last Thurs....but all in all good fun!!
But I would love for the visiting racers to experience a really smoking Maliko sometime... maybe The Naish race
in July.

Randy

[Jbay]

Thanks for the photojournalism.     I'm really looking forward to watching one of these races.  Time to book a trip to Maui.

[Admin]

Oh, and now that Chan and Devin both finished in the money, my rates as gear caddy are going up 

[JonathanC]

Hey Chan and Devin, fantastic result, WELL DONE!

[Mauiguy]

Randy awesome photos!  It was nice to finally meet you, Chan, and many others from the Zone at this event.  Can't wait to do my next downwinder.

Aloha!

// Gary

P.S. I hear your caddy services are now in great demand!
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