East Hawaii finally has a triathlon to call its own

The course is Olympic-sized, measuring a quarter of the length of the Ironman World Championship. That’s not too intimidating, says race director Joe Wedemann, nor is it a fun run.

The field is set at 270, not too small and not too high, according to Wedemann.

In his eyes, everything about Sunday’s inaugural Hilo Triathlon is shaping up as “just about right.”

The 1,500-meter swim starts and ends at James Kealoha Beach Park. The 40-kilometer bike portion of the event goes as far north as Pepeekeo, while runners will go east toward King’s Landing on their 10K route.

Along the way, participants may just soak up Mayor Billy Kenoi’s initial vision.

“He wanted to change the image of Hilo,” said Wedemann, who was happy to take the baton roughly nine months ago when Kenoi asked him to serve as director. “He wanted to create an opportunity for the youth of Hilo to participate and to serve the community.”

As a result, East Hawaii finally has a triathlon to call its own.

“It’s long overdue,” Wedemann said. “We have multiple events on the island, but Hilo hasn’t seen anything like this.”

And in some senses, neither have battle-hardened triathletes — and that’s not even taking into account the possibility of rain.

“Some who have swam at the Kona Ironman aren’t going to be used to the rough water,” said Wedemann, who was happy to tuck the event comfortably in between Ironman 70.3 (May 31) on the Kohala Coast and the Ironman World Championship (Oct. 11) in Kailua-Kona.

He calls this a “guinea pig” running.

While the course could increase in the future — Wedemann thinks a half-Ironman is a possibility in East Hawaii someday and he envisions a keiki event next year— he said Sunday’s event is “serious” enough to entice participants such as Hilo’s Chris Gregory and Mikey Brown and Keauhou’s Rani Henderson.

Competing in a similar distance at Lavaman Waikoloa in March, Gregory finished seventh (2 hours, 3 minutes, 41 seconds), Henderson (2:13:10) placed 21st and Brown (2:14:10) was 28th.

Karate

The International Karate League’s Tournament of Champions on Saturday at Edith Kanaka’ole Multipurpose Stadium isn’t the first of its kind, but it is historic in its own right.

While Kailua-Kona hosts an annual IKL event in the fall, Hilo hasn’t hosted an IKL event since 1986.

Featuring 160 male and female participants ages 8 and older competing for regional championships, the event starts at 8:30 a.m. with kata (forms). Kumite (fighting) will be held later in the day.

“It’s rare for Hilo and big that we get to promote our tradition,” said tournament director Wilbur Mina of Keaau Dojo. “We have many dojos from across the Big Island, Oahu, mainland.”

Baseball

With a berth in the state Little League tournament for ages 11-12 on the line, Hilo meets Maui in a best-of-three district championship series at Walter Victor Stadium.

The first game of a doubleheader Saturday begins at 10:30 a.m., and if necessary, a decisive game will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

Coached by Earl Moses, Hilo beat North Hawaii twice June 24 to claim the island championship.