Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run raises awareness for at-risk youth on Kaua‘i

About 250 people gathered at the ‘Ōma‘o track in Līhu‘e early Saturday morning for the first spring edition of the Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run, a race created by a youth drug and alcohol prevention program on the island.

The Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run started over a decade ago as an annual fundraising event for the Keala Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing free fitness programs to prevent and counter youth substance abuse on the island. 

“Drugs and alcohol are so normalized over here that kids just walk right into it,” Aaron Hoff, the founder of the Keala Foundation and co-founder of the Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run, said in an interview just before the start of the race on Saturday morning.

The Keala Foundation operates in four different CrossFit gyms around the island, providing exercise classes, intervention programs, and youth activities at no cost to parents and families.

The programs are available to all youth between the ages of 12 and 18, and there are currently about 600 kids enrolled. “It’s building and growing fast,” Hoff said.

After celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Ultimate Hawaiian Trail in September 2023, the Keala Foundation decided to add a spring race to its calendar, using the same trails cut for the Garden Island Motorcycle Club’s Hard Enduro Race on Feb. 24. The Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run’s other co-founder, Bertram Almeida, is also the president of the Garden Island Motorcycle Club.

“We usually do it in September, but we said, ‘Why not just do it and have all the kids come out,’” Hoff explained. “I just wanted to see what it was like to put one up, and do one very simply.” 

Although it was smaller than their September race, which usually has over 1,000 participants, Sarah Braunsdorf, the executive director of the Keala Foundation, emphasized a local focus for this event.

“Our September run, people will travel like it’s the highlight of their year … And it’s just a really awesome fundraiser,” she said. “This one is like, hey, you know what, let’s give local families something to do in the spring, in the dead months.”

Braunsdorf noted that only the adults needed to pay registration fees, meaning all youth, which made up over 60% of the 250 total, raced free. The funds raised will most likely be split with the Garden Island Motorcycle Club, she said.

As with their September race, participants had a choice of registering for either the 5K or the 10K race. But according to both Braunsdorf and Hoff, the 5k, or 3.2-mile race, was closer to six miles. The 10k race, equivalent to 6.2 miles, was 8 miles.

The trail took people through Knudsen Trust private lands, up and down Kahili Mountain, through river terrains, cobblestones, an obstacle course and a mud pit.

“It’s really stretching the routes into some areas of the mountains that we’ve never used,” Braunsdorf said of the course.

Jose Martinez,  who brought a few of his friends to join him in the 10k, said he signed up after seeing a sign for the Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run on the side of the road.

“I think it’s awesome that they’re helping the kids here,” he said. 

Sixteen-year-old Haweo Kuhaulua-Kanei, who participated with his cousins, encouraged people to push themselves at the starting line.

“Keep kids out of the gutter, your head straight, be active,” he said of the Keala Foundation’s purpose. “I think it’s a good message.”

The first three participants to cross the finish line were Makoa Wharton, 15, Tiago Freitas, 14, and Kude Rapetto, 13. “It was super fun, tiring,” Wharton said, who impressively raced in Crocs.  

Other participants include Lisa Stevens Wegner, who said it was her third time running in the event. “It’s always different, and it’s always a blast,” she said, noting the “deceptively deep” mud pit at the end of the race. “I love that it supports Kauai’s youth and tries to keep kids off drugs. It’s a great program,” she said.

Father-daughter duo Matthew Rap and Eva-Rose Rap also said they planned to sign up again. “That was the whole purpose, I think, at the end to get all covered in mud,” Matthew Rap said just after crossing the finish line. “We did the 5k, but next time we’ll do the 10k for sure. We want more of it,” he said. 

It was the second time Ethan and Heather Miller, and their son Tanner, participated in the event, after first completing it a couple of years ago. “We kept wanting to come back and do it again,” Tanner Miller said. 

“It was cruising up through the mountains in a place I’ve never been before. And just a lot of good people rooting us on and then the very end, a lot of mud, which topped it off,” Heather Miller said.

Michael Dandurand, a DJ who runs Kustom Sounds Company, said he has been operating the music for the event for years and has always wanted to run in it.

“I’ve been watching this for the last five, six years,” Dandurand said after completing the 5k. “So I said, here’s my music. I’m gonna go run.” 

Dandurand added that the event is not about competition but about bringing the community together. 

“(The Keala Foundation) needs the entire island’s support because Aaron Hoff and his crew are just doing something amazing,” he said.

The next Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run has been scheduled for Sept. 18, 2024.