Becca Mann is already back at it after her U.S. Pan Pacs appearance, winning the Waikiki Roughwater Swim women’s title in Hawaii on Monday.
The 16-year-old was the top female finisher in 51 minutes and 22 seconds, and was the 8th person to finish overall. The men’s title went to Perth, Western Australia’s Simon Huitenga in 45:36.
The event saw over 800 athletes compete in up to 18 different age classes stretching from 10& unders to ages 80 to 99.
10-year-old Kamehameha Swim Club swimmer Grace Monahan was among the youngest to complete the 2.3-mile course. Monahan won the girls 0-10 age category, finishing in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 7 seconds. On the other end of the spectrum was race founder Jim Cotton, who won the oldest age group, men’s 80-99, with a 2:01:19.
A couple big international swimming names joined Mann in the results. German open water specialist Alexander Studzinski won the men’s 30-34 division with a 46:01, the fourth-fastest time overall. Second to him in that division was backstroking world record-holder and noted American Olympian Aaron Peirsol. Peirsol went 56:19 at age 31, the 25th-fastest time of the field.
You can check out full results, both overall and by age group, by following this link.
Tragedy Strikes
While there was much to celebrate at the 45th annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim, tragedy also struck the race that saw it’s first fatality since the event began in 1970.
“The Waikiki Roughwater Swim Committee sadly reports the death of a swimmer at today’s 45th annual Swim in Honolulu, Hawaii. This is the first swim fatality in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim’s history and we are deeply saddened in knowing that one of our race participants faced this ultimate tragedy,” a statement read.
A 48-year old swimmer passed away on the course, despite what SwimSwam photojournalist Mike Lewis described as a “heroic effort” by safety personnel.
The statement continued to describe the event: “At the time of the swimmer’s distress he was being observed by water safety personnel on a paddle board and he was immediately brought to the shore by professional lifeguards via jet ski where the lifeguards and emergency medical services began CPR and transported the swimmer a local hospital. Safety has always been, and will always be, the cornerstone of all decisions with regard to the race. We utilized a safety staff of 70 trained water safety volunteers and 15 professional lifeguards on the course and applaud their rapid and professional response in this tragedy.”
Lewis, who observed the incident, concurred with the facts of the above statement, saying that “safety personnel were right with him and put him on a board immediately and took him to shore.”
No further details about the cause of death have been released, nor is the committee planning to.
I have done this event since 1985, first time tragedy struck. Very sad for his family. I understand the deceased entered the event the morning of the event. This is slightly unusual, as normally there is a level of preparation and planning before paying the fees required.