Halliday happy to survive Kaike

While Maimi Shimizu is already looking forward to next year’s race, Tinian transplant Ken Halliday appears to be content just to have survived last weekend’s 28th Kaike Triathlon.

“It was the most difficult undertaking I’ve ever been part of. The heat was amazing. About four or five degrees (Celsius) hotter than Saipan. The swim was pretty violent with over 800 people starting at once. Mai (Fellow CNMI entrant Maimi Shimizu) was 54th out of the water and I was 78th. I was hit and kicked many times in the first two kilometers,” he said in an email to the Saipan Tribune.

Halliday, meanwhile, characterized the bike course as brutal as only 20-30 kilometers of the 145 kilometers was flat.

“Mai and I rode together for the first 60 kilometers but then I had a mechanical problem with one of my pedals almost falling off. I lost about 10 minutes waiting for the bike mechanic to fix it but still had a decent ride of 5:31,” he said.

The most challenging part of Halliday’s Kaike Triathlon experience, however, was the 42.195-km run portion of the race that saw him suffer from severe stomach cramps due to a lack of salt in his body.

After struggling in the first part of the run because of his condition, Halliday got a break when a passing triathlete gave him some salt tablets and that gave him the energy to finish the race with flying colors.

“That began to work after 30-40 minutes and after a three-hour 10-minute first half I ran the second half in an hour and 53 minutes passing over 100 people on the way back to the finish line.”

Halliday said the 28th Kaike Triathlon was very well organized and the volunteers were wonderful.

“They really helped get me to the finish line. There were over 3,000 volunteers for 850 racers! All in all it was still a great race despite my problems (which were mostly my own fault) and I’m very proud to have represented the CNMI at this wonderful event.”

He also took time to thank the organizers of the 28th Kaike Triathlon and others who made his trip to the Land of the Rising Sun such a success.

“This trip was unbelievable. The way we were treated by the Kaike Triathlon committee staff was nothing short of first class. They personally drove us around the bike and run courses and took us out for some great meals. We felt like VIPs for the whole time we were there. Much thanks must go out to Ed Diaz from MVA (Marianas Visitors Authority) and Hiroko-san from PDI (Pacific Development, Inc.). They really made the whole trip run smoothly and bent over backwards to help us out. I would also like to thank all the sponsors of this event—MVA, PDI, Pacific Islands Club, and Northwest Airlines. It really was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” he said.

\Halliday completed the 28th staging of the Kaike Triathlon 201st overall with a time of 11:31:43. His splits were 56:37 in the swim, 5:31:13 in the bike, and 5:03:53 in the run.