He moved her, brightly, toward the ocean and one of his favorite spots, Richardson Ocean Park.
“He was here a lot, he’s the one who introduced this place to me, so it’s always special, but a little more so now,” said Noelani Vargas, 27, of Waimea. “I thought about him a lot out there today, it motivated me, for sure.”
Vargas was the women’s winner of the 31st Richardson Rough Water Swim in 21:53, conducted Sunday morning under blue skies and a pleasant breeze at a place she knows well and an event she has now won for the third time.
Of the three, or any of those that she may yet win, this is the one she will remember decades from now, as it occurred just two weeks after her father Roger, 71, a research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Basin in Hilo, was killed in a head-on collision on Saddle Road. Vargas, a physical therapist, said her father loved the water and she learned her respect for the ocean through him.
“I’m sure it sounds cliche,” she said, “but I really wanted to do this for him. It doesn’t make anything better, what happened still happened, but it just felt so good to get out there and swim and go for it.”
Winner of the men’s side of the event was Duke Becker, a 14-year-old from Kailua-Kona who will be a sophomore at Kealakehe next month. He made it through in the day’s best time of 20:40 on his first participation in the annual event, and the first time he had ever been to Richardson.
“We have a lot of open water competitions on the Kona side and I’ve entered a bunch of them,” Becker said, “but I’ve never been here before. My dad was talking to somebody about it and I decided at the last minute to come along, I just registered here this morning.”
You might think of it as beginner’s luck, but several contestants said they were unfamiliar with the course design this year that gave the event a different feel.
“Before I started I looked out over the course to see where you come out and where you turn back,” Vargas said, “but when I got out there I realized there were five buoys instead of three, which is all I ever remember.
“I had to push up a bit at the buoys to check on the next one,” she said, “but I guess everyone had to do that.”
Vargas said carrying her father’s memory transcended any race strategy, but she felt if she could stay with, or just ahead of multiple Rough Water winner Mina Poppas (second, in 21:55), she had a chance.
“My pacing was all about Mina,” she said, “but I knew, coming back, you have to let it all out and go really hard, as hard as you can.”
By that, did she mean she was conscious of saving energy on the first half to load up for the return?
“No,” she said, laughing, “you go hard from the very start, then you just make yourself go harder.”
Results were delayed after a couple of high school swimmers inadvertently missed a buoy and effectively made a short cut, but other than some of those awkward buoy moments, the event was a solid hit.
“Most of you may not know,” Mason Souza, recreation administrator for Hawaii County Parks and Recreation, announced to the assembled as winners were set to be announced, “but we almost had to cancel this last month for budgetary reason, but we got it approved and our staff did a great job of putting this all back together in the last few weeks.”
There were roughly 140 contestants, including a few who didn’t register and just joined in for the competition, but some of them are already thinking to next year.
“I’m always going to be here,” Vargas said.
“I have to come back now,” said first-time winner Becker, “and I definitely will.”
Sunday
Richardson Park
Duke Becker M01-14 1 1 68 4 1 20:40
Nainoa Loo M15-19 2 1 68 4 2 20:41
Bodhi Whitmore M15-19 3 2 68 4 3 21:22
Noelani Vargas F20-34 1 1 62 10 4 21:53
Mary Campbell F15-19 2 1 62 6 5 21:55
Mina Poppas F15-19 3 2 62 6 6 21:55
Susan Groff F50-64 4 1 62 14 7 22:25
Raven Domingo F01-14 5 1 62 3 8 22:26
Jim Mellon M50-64 4 1 68 26 9 22:34
Justin Chow M15-19 5 3 68 4 10 22:41
Xochi Gervais F01-14 6 2 62 3 11 23:12
Noe’ula Lindsey F15-19 7 3 62 6 12 23:43
Korrie Tengan F15-19 8 4 62 6 13 23:48
Alexandra Bennett F20-34 9 2 62 10 14 23:51
Jerry Bess M50-64 6 2 68 26 15 23:51
Ted Leach M50-64 7 3 68 26 16 23:57
Danny Becker M35-49 8 1 68 9 17 24:08
Michael Pipta M50-64 9 4 68 26 18 24:11
Catherine Spina F35-49fin 10 1 62 7 19 24:22
Peter Bitskey M35-49 10 2 68 9 20 24:23
Grayson Goodale M15-19 11 4 68 4 21 24:49
Masau Lee M01-14 12 2 68 4 22 25:36
Xanthe Smith F50-64fin 11 1 62 3 23 25:44
Braysen Libed M20-34 13 1 68 4 24 26:12
Merleda Rivera F20-34 12 3 62 10 25 26:20
Leina’ala Hall F20-34 13 4 62 10 26 26:23
Roland Laliberte M35-49 14 3 68 9 27 26:42
Kaleo Hauanio M50-64 15 5 68 26 28 26:44
Manny Moniz M50-64 16 6 68 26 29 26:49
Mark Kaili Jr. M20-34 17 2 68 4 30 27:02
Jaelyn Estabilio F15-19 14 5 62 6 31 27:18
Kelly Quin F35-49 15 1 62 8 32 27:21
Sofia Wilt F35-49 16 2 62 8 33 27:23
Whitney Aragaki F20-34 17 5 62 10 34 27:27
Tony Dolwett M20-34 18 3 68 4 35 27:49
Jill Dawrs F50-64 18 2 62 14 36 28:07
Kana’i Eckart M01-14 19 3 68 4 37 28:08
Lauren De Ment F35-49fin 19 2 62 7 38 28:13
Angela Sugar F20-34 20 6 62 10 39 28:20
Ricci Bezona M50-64 20 7 68 26 40 28:24
Christian Hirayama M65-74fin 21 1 68 4 41 28:35
Richard Oliver M50-64 22 8 68 26 42 28:37
Malia Hall F35-49fin 21 3 62 7 43 28:38
Susan Cordell F50-64 22 3 62 14 44 28:45
Sydney Hashiro F15-19 23 6 62 6 45 28:50
Elizabeth Laliberte F35-49fin 24 4 62 7 46 28:51
Peter Morton M65-74 23 1 68 12 47 28:54
Melanie Dudley F20-34 25 7 62 10 48 28:56
Roman Zaika M50-64 24 9 68 26 49 28:58
Daniel Berg M50-64 25 10 68 26 50 29:01
Lainey Eckart F01-14 26 3 62 3 51 29:24
Hiro Yanagihara M50-64 26 11 68 26 52 29:25
Amanda Charles F35-49 27 3 62 8 53 30:16
Dorian Evans M20-34 27 4 68 4 54 30:51
Steve Sugar M65-74 28 2 68 12 55 30:55
Adam Busek M50-64 29 12 68 26 56 30:57
Roger Meeker M65-74fin 30 2 68 4 57 31:06
Jim Haefner M65-74 31 3 68 12 58 31:09
Griffith Yamaguchi M50-64 32 13 68 26 59 31:15
Matthias Kusch M50-64 33 14 68 26 60 31:17
Michael Modos M50-64 34 15 68 26 61 31:18
John Broward M50-64 35 16 68 26 62 31:20
Bayo Gervais M01-14 36 4 68 4 63 31:22
Mark Lewis M35-49 37 4 68 9 64 31:45
Cynthia Hartman F35-49 28 4 62 8 65 31:46
Kiana Machado F20-34fin 29 1 62 3 66 32:28
Cindy Morse F50-64 30 4 62 14 67 32:42
Chris Owens M50-64 38 17 68 26 68 32:48
Kapua Sawyer F35-49 31 5 62 8 69 32:49
Roy Dollwet M50-64 39 18 68 26 70 32:55
Elliot Parsons M35-49 40 5 68 9 71 33:28
Stephanie Yelenik F35-49 32 6 62 8 72 33:41
Millie Cooke F50-64 33 5 62 14 73 33:51
Awai Waipa F01-14fin 34 1 62 5 74 33:58
Chris Williams F50-64 35 6 62 14 75 34:01
Marc Lewis M35-49fin 41 1 68 2 76 34:11
Robert Libed M50-64fin 42 1 68 2 77 34:22
Sunita Przewlocki F35-49 36 7 62 8 78 34:41
Star Lockwood F50-64 37 7 62 14 79 34:42
Toby Wilkinson M35-49 43 6 68 9 80 34:43
Tean Simmons F20-34 38 8 62 10 81 34:44
Norman Uchida M65-74 44 4 68 12 82 34:44
Jeff Girdner M50-64 45 19 68 26 83 34:47
Diana Machado F50-64 39 8 62 14 84 34:48
Calvin Serain M35-49 46 7 68 9 85 35:06
Richard Oehlman M65-74 47 5 68 12 86 35:42
Peter Mott M65-74fin 48 3 68 4 87 35:44
Ceryse Livermore F65-74fin 40 1 62 2 88 35:55
Tom Goltz M65-74 49 6 68 12 89 35:58
Michael Donahoe M65-74fin 50 4 68 4 90 35:59
Kathy Williamson F50-64 41 9 62 14 91 36:00
Mariah Lewis F01-14fin 42 2 62 5 92 36:01
Lee Otani F50-64 43 10 62 14 93 36:03
Carly Dossett F01-14fin 44 3 62 5 94 36:05
Fiona Lewis F01-14fin 45 4 62 5 95 36:26
Megan Lewis F35-49fin 46 5 62 7 96 36:26
Teagan Rutkowski F20-34 47 9 62 10 97 36:27
Jim Wyban M65-74 51 7 68 12 98 36:31
Andy Busek M50-64fin 52 2 68 2 99 37:24
Pua Kahauoumi F35-49fin 48 6 62 7 100 37:26
Caludine Fujii F65-74fin 49 2 62 2 101 37:59
Greg Goodale M50-64 53 20 68 26 102 38:29
James Anthony M50-64 54 21 68 26 103 38:42
Stephanie Jones F20-34 50 10 62 10 104 38:45
Annette Schlegelmilch F50-64 51 11 62 14 105 38:59
Paige Breen-Page F50-64 52 12 62 14 106 39:01
Erik Belcher M65-74 55 8 68 12 107 39:09
Robert Belcher M50-64 56 22 68 26 108 39:11
Maire Howell F35-49fin 53 7 62 7 109 39:17
Margaret Serain M65-74 54 9 62 12 110 39:37
Eldridee Naboa M35-49 57 8 68 9 111 39:48
Charles Keane M65-74 58 10 68 12 112 40:04
Jeffrey Clark M35-49 59 9 68 9 113 40:08
Allen Pearsley F35-49 55 8 62 8 114 40:56
David Mattice M50-64 60 23 68 26 115 41:05
Alexander Cyran M50-64 61 24 68 26 116 41:10
Gerard Callo M50-64 62 25 68 26 117 41:16
Mahea Lee-Lopez F01-14fin 56 5 62 5 118 41:23
Lauren Nickerson F20-34fin 57 2 62 3 119 41:23
Alan Mitsuyoshi M65-74 63 11 68 12 120 43:28
Cindy Walker F50-64 58 13 62 14 121 45:16
Paul Patnode M75-99 64 1 68 2 122 46:43
Daniel Belcher M65-74 65 12 68 12 123 50:24
Stanley Roehrig M75-99 66 2 68 2 124 50:47
Dorothy Staskawicz F50-64fin 59 2 62 3 125 52:07
Bobby Dugar M35-49fin 67 2 68 2 126 52:08
Misae Wela F50-64 60 14 62 14 127 52:40
Pomai Wela M50-64 68 26 68 26 128 52:51
Mino’aka Carbone F20-34fin 61 3 62 3 129 55:53
Lynne Hanzawa F50-64fin 62 3 62 3 130 1:00:30