OluKai Celebrates 11 Years of International Paddling

For the 11th year in a row OluKai, brought together some of the world’s best paddlers for a weekend of racing and give back to Hawaiʻi at the annual Hoʻolauleʻa.  OluKai created the event in 2008 to pay tribute to the ocean lifestyle through competition, tradition, family and giving back to the community.

This year’s event, which took place Sunday June 9 on Maui’s North Shore, brought together close to 200 paddlers for a day or racing. The Ho’olaule’a race featured the largest gender equal prize purse of $15,000 with athletes from all corners of the globe vying for the top prize and bragging rights. The prize money is broken down equally between the winners in all divisions in the race.

Top winners from this year’s race include:

Women’s Elite SUP: Annie Reickert
Women’s Elite OC1: Andrea Moller
Men’s Elite SUP: Kody Kerbox
Men’s Elite OC1: Triston Kahookele-Santos

As part of the Hoʻolauleʻa race weekend, athletes and the Maui community gathered Saturday before the race for a beach sweep with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi. The team worked for hours on World Ocean’s Day, picking up trash including a several hundred pound ghost net that was buried in the sand. The giveback is just one way OluKai supports Hawaiʻi and the environment through their Ama OluKai Foundation.