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Honu Triathlon 2004 Recap
On a picture postcard day at the Mauna Lani Resort, on the Kohala Coast, 227 triathletes from around the State of Hawaii christened the new Honu Triathlon on the Big Island. Capturing the inaugural titles in this Olympic distance race were Timothy Marr of Mililani (2:04:19) and Ingrid Rolles of Honolulu (2:17:00). A total of 35 Big Island slots and 20 neighbor island slots to the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championship were awarded to a strong field of competitors.
The men's race was close the entire way with training partners James Cotter of Kailua-Kona and Tim Marr exiting the water at Hapuna Beach in first and second place, 18 seconds apart. Marr got a sizeable lead over Cotter on the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway but unfortunately Madam Pele had other plans for him and he flatted with six miles to go. "I thought it was over," said Marr, who was not carrying a spare.
A race marshal radioed tech support for aid but it had not arrived before Cotter rode by. Not wanting to take advantage of the his friend's bad luck, a sympathetic Cotter eased up a bit for the remaining miles to the Mauna Lani Resort. The two rolled into the transition area together and took off on the run seconds apart. On the Mauna Lani North Golf Course, they ran near and joked with each other until Marr decided he had had enough and took off, posting a 40:09 run split.
Marr, a recent University of Hawaii at Hilo business administration graduate, won the inaugural Honu Triathlon on the Big Island in an overall time of 2:04:19. Cotter ended up about a minute back in 2:05:17. Allister Knox of Kihei, Maui, was third in 2:07:45, having the day's fastest run split of 39:23.
In the women's race, Sheri Lehmer of Kailua-Kona used her home field advantage and was the first female to exit the water in 10th place overall, with a time of 21:33. Once on the bike course Ingrid Rolles dominated, passing Lehmer, Theresa Michal from Oahu and Bree Myers of Kailua-Kona. Rolles' bike split of 1:05:56 was the fastest women's ride of the day and had her over a minute ahead of Myers as she headed out on the run course. Knowing full well the talent of the others behind her, Rolles continued to race hard, covering the Mauna Lani golf course run in 45:48. Only Tanya Bettis had a faster run split of 45:14 which was enough to move her past a fading Myers but not enough to catch a determined Rolles. Rolles crossed the finish line as the first woman in 2:17:00. Bettis was a close second in 2:18:24 and Myers was third in 2:20:16.
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