Not even two bouts of cancer, both defeated by knockout, could drive Egon Horcajo away from canoe paddling.
The 64-year-old, who survived leukemia and throat cancer, is Keauhou’s men masters coach, and he had a very good day at the rain-and-wind 64th edition of the Hawaii Canoe Racing Association state championships on Saturday at Hilo Bay.
Two of his crews, the men 65 (second event) and men 60 (fourth race), won their half-mile races early in the day, when the weather was less miserable, and soon got more and more uncooperative by the minute.
The Keauhou 65 crew (Lorrin Ching, Richard Everett, Moke Hauanio, Robert Vatter, Mel Pauole, Bruce Clifford) beat Oahu’s Outrigger by a rather comfortable margin, 4:22.65 to 4:28.71.
The Keauhou 60 crew (steersman Horcajo, Forrest Wild, Paul Daugherty, Gary Capri, Lambert Lee Loy, George Abood) defeated Oahu’s Keahiakahoe by a bigger landslide, 3:55.91 to 4:04.90.
Lee Loy was Daugherty’s first coach with the Keauhou men novice B (first-year paddlers) in 1991. Daugherty and his fellow rookies tore up Moku O Hawaii that year, and went undefeated, but missed two starters at states, and couldn’t duplicate similar glory.
More than a decade later, Lee Loy, Daugherty, Capri and Abood were on a Keauhou gold crew that won the 500-meter race at the 2014 World Sprints at Hilo Bay. The crew was second in the 1,000-meter event.
Another decade down the line, and the old guys are still going at it for Keauhou.
Both crews didn’t enter the day with any big-time distinction. Neither was a defending state champion nor finished the Moku O Hawaii season with a clean record. (Keauhou 60 captured the Aunty Maile Mauhili/Moku O Hawaii championship; the 65 crew got a disqualification.)
“We tried different combinations,” said Lee Loy, who’s been with Keauhou since 1987. “In different combinations, the speed was obvious. We muffed our first stroke because of nervousness, but from the second stroke on to the end of the race we were spotless.
“Egon is our bridge between the past and present and future, and he gives us a future.”
Horcajo was with Keauhou in 2004, then he and his wife Rena moved to California, where they founded a canoe club called Hanohano. Rena is a Kamehameha-Kapalama graduate, and the couple picked a name that meant, “dignified, glorified and worthy of praise.”
“We were one of the winningest clubs in California, and after coaching for 23 years I thought I was done with paddling,” Horcajo said. “But when you’ve been paddling that long, it runs in your blood. It’s a passion.”
In 2011, he returned to Keauhou to coach. The next year, Horcajo was diagnosed with leukemia (a cancer of the blood). He beat it, fair and square. Then it returned as a different opponent as throat cancer in 2013. He beat that, too.
Last year, he was still healing from chemotherapy, but still paddled in a few races. The water proved to be therapeutic. Horcajo got the canoe paddling bug.
“I got that spark again,” he said. “I was paddling this year, and then the guys asked me to coach them.”
He owns Zimmer-Wilkens Construction. If you’re wondering about the name, it’s to honor his family, Zimmer, and as well as his wife’s family, Wilkens.
“With a name like Horcajo, who would remember a name like that?,” he joked.
Cancer is a ruthless opponent. It never sleeps, reproduces every second, and welcomes weapons like chemo and radiation thrown its way. It’s just that cancer ran into a tougher opponent in Horcajo.
“I live every day to its fullest,” he said. “Every new day I appreciate opening my eyes. I just have a passion for paddling. I hope I can inspire other people.”
