June 6, 2016
by Christopher Parker (@wheresbossman)

Aussie Domination: Karla Gilbert and Jackson Maynard Win the Maui Jim OceanFest in Hawaii


In brief: Australia has dominated the Maui Jim OceanFest, with Jackson Maynard and Karla Gilbert claiming the men’s and women’s titles respectively, while their compatriots Travis Grant and Kelly Margetts also enjoyed stand out stand up performances.

Jackson and Karla were the defending champions coming into this year’s event, with the Queensland duo going back-to-back at Maui’s iconic Ka’anapali Beach. The all-round theme of the Maui Jim OceanFest – the event combines SUP, swimming, prone, OC-1 and surfski – heavily favours the Australians, who dominate the parallel world of surf life saving, aka lifeguard racing.

(Maynard currently competes on Australia’s elite Nutri-Grain Ironman series, while Karla was the undisputed Queen of the Ironwoman series in the late 90s/early 2000s.)

The 2016 Maui Jim OceanFest event also featured several well known names from the Hawaiian SUP racing world, including Zane Schweitzer who took out the SUP sprint on Saturday, Jenny Kalmbach, Josh Riccio, Slater Trout and Travis Baptiste.

We’ll have full results as soon as we can locate them, but in the meantime here are some of the top finishers. And if you want more photos, the always-on-it 808photo.me has some fantastic shots up on Facebook already, as does Mike from Stand Up Magazin.

Overall Weekend Champs
Karla Gilbert (Queensland, Australia)
Jackson Maynard (Queensland, Australia)

Saturday Race Winners

Swim: Jackson Maynard (Queensland, Australia)
Prone paddleboard: Jackson Maynard (Queensland, Australia)
SUP: Zane Schweitzer (Hawaii, USA)
OC-1: Travis Grant (Hawaii, USA)
Surfski: Jasper Mocke (Capetown, South Africa)

Swim: Leane Darling (Hawaii, USA)
Paddle Board: Leane Darling (Hawaii, USA)
SUP: Karla Gilbert (Queensland, Australia)
OC-1: Chelsea Bizik (Hawaii, USA)
Surfski: Jennifer Kalmbach (Hawaii, USA)

Sunday Race Winners
More updates to follow…

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