Mitchell claims ninth Molokai-2-Oahu World Paddleboard Championship

HONOLULU—The race through the Molokai Channel highlighted the strength and determination of some of the world’s most daring paddleboarders this weekend.

In an unprecedented feat, Jamie Mitchell from Australia claimed his ninth Molokai-2-Oahu World Paddleboard Championship title in Hawaii on Sunday, July 25. Mitchell, 33, completed the 32-mile race four minutes outside of his own record in a time of 4 hours, 52 minutes and 45 seconds. Mitchell, known as the “King of Paddleboard,” attributed his win to experience in Hawaiian waters that allowed him to overcome an uncooperative ocean of difficult swells. Hawaii’s Kanesa Duncan-Seraphin, 34, claimed her eighth Molokai-2-Oahu title in a time of 6:02:45; less than 10 minutes shy of the record she set in 2004.

In the men’s division, Australia owned the winners podium taking all three honors, with Jackson English in second, and Joel Mason finishing third. Fourth-placed Mikey Cote was the top placing Hawaii paddler.

“You had to really work for everything you got out there,” Mitchell said. “The wind seemed a little more out of the north, meaning a lot of of disorganization out there so you had to really work through the bumps.

Victory in the stand-up paddle (SUP) men’s and women’s divisions went to Maui’s Dave Kalama and Andrea Moller, both setting records for their respective divisions. Standing upright and having a paddle at hand makes the race a bit faster for stand-up paddlers especially with wind giving an extra push. Kalama was roughly two minutes behind Mitchell, and Moller was two minutes faster than Duncan-Seraphin. Today’s rough surface conditions were a particular test of balance for the SUP contestants.

“There are a lot of really good sprinters, but I’m not one of them, so the windy races are what I train for and that’s what I’m built for,” Kalama said. “I’m really happy I won.”

The Molokai Channel is world renowned as one of the most treacherous bodies of water dishing out either high times or heartbreak. One hundred and fifty paddlers started out today, eight did not officially finish. Among the eight were 2009 runner-up Brian Rocheleau of Hawaii, who was forced to withdraw during the race due to severe illness. Another Hawaii paddle boarder Mark Matheson, the only paraplegic to ever undertake the Molokai Channel crossing, was well on his way to finishing, but lost his mandatory escort boat to engine problems with only 10 miles remaining and was forced to stop.

With the few that saw defeat during the crossing, many achieved personal victories including 12-year-old Riggs Napoleon of Hawaii, the youngest person to ever cross the Molokai channel on any nonmotorized watercraft finishing the race in a little over seven hours. Jeff Denholm, an inspirational athlete who designs his own prosthetics, also came away with his own victory. Denholm, 43 from California, lost an arm to a fishing boat accident in Alaska more than a decade ago, but never allowed it to stop his athletic lifestyle. In his second year of the Molokai crossing he finished at a personal best of seven hours and 49 minutes and vowed to return even faster in 2011.

“It was humbling as usual. My arm worked great, the crew was strong, but I just got on a board that I couldn’t handle. I was paddling sideways the whole time. I was more sideways then I was straight. But I’ll be back,” Denholm said.

For more information on the race and full results, visit molokai2oahu.com.