Should Caleb Westfall be banned from all future Honolulu Marathons?

Should Caleb Westfall be banned from future Honolulu Marathons?

Big Island resident Caleb Westfall was told several times that he would be arrested if he attempted to do the Honolulu Marathon on stilts, race officials told the Big Dog.  

Race President, Jim Barahal, did not want him in the race with the stilts. Westfall was advised several times before the race that the stilts could pose a danger to other runners in a crowded field like the Honolulu marathon.

Westfall defied race officials and came in anyway. He got himself on KITV’s morning show because the station was doing live coverage from the course. When KITV asked Honolulu race officials his name they would not give it to the television station because they did not want to help Westfall in his self promoting publicity stunt.

Look at the end of this video from the KITV live program and you will see Westfall being interviewed on the course. He complained that the Honolulu Marathon would not let him race with stilts so he jumped in at mile 5.

The Honolulu Marathon is now considering banning Westfall from future races.

The Big Dog would like to know if you agree with the ban because I would also not allow stilts to be used in the Hilo Marathon, for safety reasons.  The safety of runners should always come first!

Lavaman Keauhou Sunset 5K – complete results

Lavaman Keauhou Sunset 5K

Held Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 at the  Keauhou Shopping Center

1. David Holden 18:25   2. Jon Jokiel 18:59   3. Brad Bryson 19:02

4. Tim Rodinson 20:16   5. Stephen Cosgrove 22:03   6. Bo Florendo 23:21

7. Hannah Shimizu 24:12   8. Joe Piekarski 24:40   9. Hiroaki Sasabuchi 25:43

10. Lori Montgomery 26:17   11. Caleb Westfall 26:26   12. Debi Bradley 26:43

13. John Maure 27:20   14. Bonnie Latini 27:31   15. Jonah Xavier 27:39

16. Linda Goeth 28:02   17. Russell Komo 28:17   18. Jenny Payne 28:57

19. Maggie Murphy 29:08   20. Sean Aokins 29:41  21. Sharona Lomberg 30:07

22. Jonathan Lomberg 30:11   23. Claire Evans 30:53   24. Kawika Pierson 30:58

25. Vicki Pendergrass 31:55   26. Alani Lui 32:18   27. Lorraine Hall 32:30

28. Christine DeCarli 33:20   29. Kimberly Marr 33:27   30. Ashley Latini 34:35

31. Allan Robbins 35:10   32. Tayvhe-Lei Kaupu 35:12   33. Rebekah Mersburgh 35:17

34. Crystal Warren 35:56   35. Warren Hollinger 36:00   36. Charlene Mersburgh 36:09

37. April Sasaki 36:12   38. Ronald Raridon 36:42   39. Honey Kaupa 37:46

40. Damien Merseburgh 38:28   41. Jeanette Park 38:44   42. Chelsea Park 38:48

43. Benjamin Robbins 41:23   44. Joey Wagner 41:37   45. Lauren Barry 41:48

46. Johnalynn Freitas 42:45   47. Sommer Kaleohano-Knittl 42:47   48. Alaia Leigitland 44:47

49. Rexanna Ring 45:16   50. James Texeira 45:29   51. Shelly Texeira 45:31

52. Deidre Robbins 45:36   53. Lydia Robbins 45:40   54. Teagan Travalino 48:11

55. Malia Kamaka-Chapman 48:21   56. Jennifer Stike 50:16   57. Barbara Higa 52:19

58. Logan Duck 53:05   59. Nickolas Adams 53:10   60. Sandra Kimball 1:00:42

61. David Kimball 1:00:44   62. Shirley Araki 1:01:21   63. Jessie Araki 1:09:25

Lava Kids,from Keauhou, full results

Lava Kids Results   Lavakids Keauhou    Held Saturday in Keauhou, August 27, 2011

7 to 10 age group  1. Caleb Westfall 6:43   2. Tanner Levine 7:08   3. Sydney Wiernicki 7:09

4. Kanaipono Eckart 7:10   5. Jared Barrett 7:11   6. Jackie Payne 7:26

7. Kawaini Cho 7:42   8. River Goldberg 7:52   9. Maile Fediuk 7:53

10. Laif Showalter 8:02   11. Tatelyn Spencer 8:06   12. Kai Fasciano 8:13

13. Seth Beach 8:30   14. Halia Buchal 8:36   15. Gavin Twist 8:42

16. Kaiimi Beck 8:43   17. Joshua Stuart 8:47   18. Cameron Stuart 8:49

19. Mele Spencer 8:50   20. Aulike Kaiwe 8:53   21. Zachary Evanglista 8:53

22. Isabella Zambrana 9:10   23. Kailey Fediuk 9:21   24. Halia Locke 9:42

25. Katie Payne 9:43   26. Rawley LaChance 9:47   27. Cody Evile 9:59

28. Caylin Ziemelts 10:08   29. Sophie LaChance 10:17   30. Ocean Akau 10:23

31. Brady Thoman 10:48   32. Brooke Smith 11:00   33. Tate Thoman 11:34

11-14 AGE GROUP   1. Lawrence Barrett 11:27

2. Caleb Westfall 11:30   3. Kawika Pierson 14:14   4. Sienna Levine 14:45

5. Naomi Ney 14:50   6. Bayleigh Wiernicki 14:51   7. Audrey Nixon 15:37

8. Hadley Beach 17:39   9. Austen Sawaya 18:20   10. Cort Sawaya 18:23

Waikoloa Man Sets New World Record for finishing Marathon on Stilts

Caleb Westfall at Kona Marathon, photo by hawaiiphotoman

Waikoloa’s Caleb Westfall may have set a new world record in covering a marathon distance of 26.2-miles when he covered the Kona course last month while standing on 31 inch stilts.

   According to the Guinness Book of World Records the fastest marathon on stilts belongs to Michelle Frost from the United Kingdom who finished the Flora London Marathon on April 13 2008 in a time of 8 hours and 25 minutes; Westfall achieved the same feat in a time of 7 hours 37 minutes and 11 seconds.

  Westfall’s overall time translated into a 17 minute 26 second per mile pace and placed him in 264^th place out of 264 finishers.

   “I started using stilts when I was 16 years old and learning the drywall business,” Westfall said.  “The stilts help me reach up on those nine foot ceilings and I feel real comfortable using them.”

   Eight years ago Westfall’s brother gave him his current pair of stilts, valued at $200 to use in his drywall business.  “The stilts I use probably weigh 25 pounds each and some days I have them on most of the eight hour work day, but I’ve never used them outside of work,” he said.

   Westfall is no stranger to running marathons as he has finished 11 of them, prior to doing Kona on stilts. His best time came at the Big Island International Marathon when he finished the race while pushing his son in a stroller in 3 hours and 44 minutes.

  Westfall chose the Kona Marathon to try it on stilts because it is the flattest marathon course in the state and he thought it would pose the least amount of obstacles.

   “Kona is flat and I knew I couldn’t do this on any course that had hills because I would seriously hurt myself when trying to go downhill,” he said.  “But I underestimated the curvature of the road in Kona and realized during the first mile that this was going to be way more difficult than I had expected.”

   During that first mile of the marathon Westfall thought about quitting because he was walking on the sides of his feet while on the stilts and the pain was incredible.

   “I kept telling myself that I’ve never quit anything in my life and I wasn’t about to now,” Westfall said.  “At mile 15 a screw came loose on one of the stilts and I needed to get off and borrow a wrench from one of the aid station people, which took about 10 minutes to fix.”

   Westfall continued on and with about a mile to go someone had called the ambulance for him.  “I was crying uncontrollable at the end,” he said.  “The ambulance came and I waved them off as I want to finish this thing.”

   At the finish line Westfall had bruised legs and barely managed to stay on his feet after getting off the stilts.  “It felt like someone beat me up with a bat,” he said.

   “It took over a week for me to recover, but I was back at work the very next day,” Westfall said.  “The emotional toll it has taken on me and the physiological trauma that I encountered from doing this is very difficult to explain.”

   Westfall credits his childhood diseases with his reason to overachieve at everything he tries.  “I nearly died when I was two years old and by the time I was eight I had developed severe arthritis,” he said.  “If it wasn’t for the free care I got as a child from Shriners Hospital for Children in Michigan I wouldn’t be here today.”

   “My parents are still surprised that I’m doing anything athletic because they never expected me to even walk when I was a child,” he said.  “I give thanks everyday and I especially want to recognize Shriners for all they did for me.”

   Westfall first got started in sports back in 2000 when he moved to Hawaii by going the Kai Opua Canoe Club and has since tried a variety of sports from mixed martial arts to running ultra marathon (distances longer than the marathon) and even competed in the Fort Ironman Triathlon World Championships.

   The Guinness World Record will still need to be verified before it gets the official seal of certification; in the meantime Westfall is philosophical about his accomplishment.  “I never knew about any sort of record on stilts when I tried this and it doesn’t really matter if I got it or not, the main thing is that I finished what I started.”

  “I see my accomplishment as almost a religious experience,” he said.  “The pain and suffering that I encountered pales in comparison to what others have done and I will now look for other things to challenge myself.”

Scholarship 5K Race Results

BIRR president, Steve Pavao, presented $1000 checks to Waiakea's Kaitlyn Chock and Hilo's Sai Weiss following the 5K event

Big Island Road Runners Scholarship 5k Run     May 23, 2010       Coconut Island, 7:30am

Place	Name	Division	Female	Time
1	Alan Ryan	30-39			:	18	:	07
2	Jackson Halford	1-19			:	18	:	08
3	Justin Pang	1-19			:	18	:	15
4	Rick Michels	1-19			:	18	:	57
5	Steve Pavao	50-59			:	20	:	07
6	Tchad Henderson	30-39			:	20	:	24
7	Stuart Miyashiro	50-59			:	20	:	30
8	Sai Weiss	1-19			:	20	:	35
9	Linden Villena	30-39			:	21	:	29
10	Choy Bacor	30-39			:	21	:	30
11	Caleb J. Westfall	30-39			:	22	:	04
12	Lory Hunter	40-49	1		:	22	:	29
13	Zandrix Acob	1-19			:	22	:	41
14	DJ Blinn	60 & over			:	22	:	49
15	Daniel Okubo	1-19			:	23	:	27
16	Rob Van Geen	40-49			:	23	:	54
17	Thomas Fratinardo	40-49			:	23	:	54
18	James Tuscany	50-59			:	24	:	28
19	Eric Young	1-19			:	24	:	37
20	Kim Rojo	30-39	2		:	24	:	40
21	Daysen Masuda	1-19			:	24	:	50
22	Kelly Freitas	50-59			:	25	:	06
23	Robert Belcher	50-59			:	25		08
24	Shell Hamilton	20-24	3		:	25	:	23
25	Charles Keane	50-59			:	25	:	40
26	Big Dog	60 & over			:	25	:	40
27	Harvey Nakasone	50-59			:	26	:	13
28	Joanne Pocsidio	40-45	4		:	27	:	01
29	Firmin Tehero	50-59			:	27	:	38
30	Terran Kaleiwahea	1-19			:	28	:	30
31	Kevin Iwasaki	20-29			:	28	:	38
32	Kimo Like	1-19			:	29	:	02
33	Anthony Ganancial	30-39			:	29	:	09
34	Kekoa Kalahiki	1-19			:	29	:	13
35	Kristen Spees	20-29	5		:	29	:	51
36	Kim Furumo	50-51	6		:	29	:	54
37	Michelle Vieira	20-29	7		:	30	:	30
38	Dennis Shigioka	60 & over			:	30	:	52
39	Caleb R. Westfall	1-19			:	31	:	21
40	Pearl Acob	30-39	8		:	31	:	29
41	Bill Sakovich	60 & over			:	31	:	30
42	Cedrick Roberts-Perry	1-19			:	31	:	44
43	Adrel Vicente	30-39			:	32	:	10
44	Kyle Wana	1-19			:	32	:	42
45	Tyler Gerken	1-19			:	32	:	58
46	Kahea Kanuha	1-19	9		:	33	:	12
47	Sam Marrack	1-19	10		:	34	:	16
48	Christin DeCoito	1-19	11		:	34	:	34
49	Melia Taganas	1-19	12		:	34	:	46
50	Rick Otani	50-59			:	34	:	46
51	Lee Collins	50-59	13		:	34	:	47
52	Kainoa Crum	1-19			:	35	:	05
53	Nainoa Calip	1-19			:	35	:	35
54	Collen Fratinardo	50-54	14		:	37	:	19
55	Makoa Carreira	1-19			:	39		07
56	Boyd Ramos	1-19			:	39	:	07
57	Leah Pukahi	30-39	15		:	39	:	24
58	Micah Keawe	1-19			:	39	:	25
59	Michele Macanas	40-44	16		:	40	:	18
60	Piikea Miller	1-19	17		:	40	:	18
61	Kawehi Pua Kaikaina	1-19	18		:	40	:	59
62	Kiani Matsumoto	1-19	19		:	41	:	00
63	Kawika Kekaualua	1-19			:	41	:	50
64	Carle-Ann Mata	1-19	20		:	41	:	54
65	Ashley Deguzman-H.	1-19	21		:	41	:	58
66	NO NAME	NO AGE			:	44	:	19
67	Kiley Kelson	1-19	22		:	44	:	38
68	Iwalani Kaili	NO AGE			:	44	:	38
69	Gene Madriaga	1-19			:	46	:	33
70	Maka Branco	1-19			:	46	:	33
71	Casey Chai	1-19			:	47	:	02
72	John Fratinardo	1-19			:	47	:	02
73	Elijah Pung	1-19			:	47	:	02
74	John Marrack	1-19			:	47	:	18
75	Sally Marrack	30-39	23		:	47	:	19

For the story on the Scholarship Run event go to:  https://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/chock-weiss-honored-at-road-runners-scholarship-5k/