Race reports · 2025 · by Michelle
The Oahu Pentathlon 2025
Five events, from 6 in the morning to 9:22 at night, timed on our own clock because the results live on a map that doesn't publish a finish list.
A pentathlon is five events in one day, and the Oahu Pentathlon is the local version, which in 2025 was a day we filmed instead of writing down, so most of what's here is one number, Jay's list, and a video.
The one number I have
We started at 6 in the morning and finished at 9:22 at night, together, which comes to fifteen hours and twenty-two minutes. That's longer than either of our full Ironmans, and it's the longest day with a bib on that either of us has had. I should say where that number comes from, because the timing company's results for this race live on a live-tracking map that doesn't publish a finish list, so the 15:22 on the card is from our own clock and not from a timing sheet. It's the only number on this site that isn't official, and I'd rather tell you that up front than have you find out on your own.
The five events, by Jay's count
Jay can rebuild the day from memory and I can't, so this is his list. It started with a 2.2-mile swim and a 16-mile run, then a 12-mile canoe paddle and a 30-mile bike, and then a 10-mile sandbag carry around Kaena Point, at the northwest tip of the island, with a 45-pound bag, which Jay walked with our CrossFit friend Jake. After that there were 95 more miles on the bike from Waianae around the south shore to Hawaii Kai and up to Kailua. The distances are his count, not a course sheet, and the whole thing goes all the way around the island.
Why the video is the report
We didn't keep notes that day, and I'm not going to put five events on a page from memory the way we do for a normal race, so the video is the report and I'd rather you watch it. It's one of the most-watched things on the channel, which tells me people would rather see a multi-event day with a camera on it than read about one, and fair enough, because I would too.
I'm a routine person, and a day with five different events in it, with other people around and a camera going, is the opposite of a routine, so I'm not going to pretend I went into it calm, because I didn't. Was it worth it? It was, and it took me a while to admit that, because after a full-distance season a day like this was a reminder that the sport doesn't have to be one long thing, and that it can be several short things, with other people, in a place you already live. In our case it was fifteen hours of short things, from six in the morning to 9:22 at night.