Kaua‘i Gang relay team earns third at Lavaman Triathlon, fueled by ohana

Lucas Anakalea, his father Broc Anakalea and Angelis Oliveras came off Hawai‘i Island with more than a relay medal. The Kaua‘i trio, calling themselves the Kaua‘i Gang, placed third overall among relay teams and third in the mixed division at the 2026 Lavaman Triathlon, a finish that carried the weight of family, work and island pride.

The result came in a race that demands a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike and a 10-kilometer run at Waikoloa Beach Resort, with the swim in Anaeho‘omalu Bay and the bike on Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway. For Kaua‘i, the podium showing was a reminder that island athletes can still measure up at one of Hawai‘i’s best-known spring races, even when training time is squeezed by long workdays and family obligations.

Broc Anakalea, a landscaping business owner originally from Anahola and now based in Kīlauea, handled the bike leg. Nearing 50, he brought a long endurance-racing background to the effort and helped anchor a team built as much on experience as speed. Lucas Anakalea, raised in Kīlauea, started the relay in the swim. He works in rockfall mitigation on the North Shore and grew up around paddling, swimming, surfing and water polo, a local athletic foundation that fit naturally into the opening miles of the race.

Angelis Oliveras closed it out on the run. She works at Tahiti Nui in Hanalei and has her own athletic ties to the North Shore through the Ha‘ena to Hanalei run, giving the relay another deep Kaua‘i connection. Together, the three moved through the course with limited shared training time, a reality shaped by jobs, family schedules and Broc Anakalea’s support for his brother, who is battling stage 4 cancer.

That backdrop made the finish resonate beyond the results sheet. Lavaman organizers describe the event as a local, family-owned triathlon that does not make a profit and donates all net proceeds back to the community, which helps explain why a Kaua‘i relay built on ohana fit so naturally into its spirit. The race, in its 27th annual edition on March 29, has roots going back to 1998, when Gerry Rott launched it in memory of her husband, Nick Rott, after he died in a bike training ride in 1994. The first Lavaman drew 83 competitors.

For the Kaua‘i Gang, third place was proof that island athletes can compete with the state’s best without leaving behind the realities of life at home. On this one, discipline and family carried as much meaning as the medal.