Enduro
Mauna Kea Enduro: Hawaii’s original hard enduro
Five-time Mauna Kea Enduro winner Phil Oveland on 200-mile days of mud, lava, pig trails and prison
Philip Oveland
© Jerry Bernardo Images
Phil Oveland is the proud owner of Kahua Ranch Kawasaki. His shop on the Big Island of Hawaii is set in the middle of the second largest cattle ranch in the state of Hawaii, at 12,000 acres making it one of the largest cattle operations in the U.S.
While most dealerships around the globe find themselves smack-dab in a major metropolitan area, Kahua Ranch Kawasaki enjoys epic views of sprawling pastures and, beyond those, the Pacific Ocean. His days are spent selling ATVs and UTVs, and guiding ATV tours of the ranch. When “Uncle Phil” isn’t spinning wrenches, he spends his free time racing motocross or beating himself up in a place called Mud Lane--a local off-road spot laden with slick roots and treacherous single-track.
Phil took me riding there once. “It’ll be fun!” he promised. I hate him now.
RB: Phil, I know you’re great at telling stories about dirt bikes, and I know that not many people have heard of the famed Mauna Kea 200 Enduro. I’m just going to press the Record button and let you fill us in. Ready? And the gate drops…now!
PO: The Mauna Kea 200 Enduro started in the town of Hilo, Hawaii, in 1976. It was a two-day, enduro-format race that began at sea level in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii, and was the first of its kind in the state. Competitors would venture to the top of Mauna Kea (Hawaiian for white mountain and at 13,800 feet the highest point in the state so it’s normal to find snow near the summit in winter).
Oveland on his Coffs KTM
© iKapture Images
Once they reached the top [of this dormant volcano], the bikes were impounded for the night. The following day competitors would race back down the mountain to the finish in Hilo. The Mauna Kea Enduro was 100 miles long each day and, back then, was one of the toughest events of its kind.
The beginning of the race started with racers going right down the main streets of Hilo. The townsfolk would all come out to watch the bikes pass by. Passing cars would honk their horns and wave as we all worked our way into the rain forest. Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the world at over 200 inches of rain a year. During the race you were almost guaranteed to have rainfall and puddles that were handlebar deep. Water-proofing your bike was very important! The fallen logs we came across on the trail were sometimes belt buckle high. Most of the trails were dense single-track, much of it some form of rock. Some parts were pig trails that the club had found and opened up for us to ride.
Some of the forest was on state land and some of it was private. The course also made its way into the areas close to the Kulani Prison. We often joked that an escaped prisoner may jump us during the race and try to take our bikes.
The midway point of the race was at the 6000-foot mark, right at the top of the rain forest. Riders would have a one-hour break and then would reset their timekeeping equipment.
After lunch the course went through the lava flows for a good 20 miles. In 1983 [several years after the race started] a lava flow began and it started to head towards Hilo. They actually had to cancel the Mauna Kea Enduro in 1984 because the lava had taken out a good portion of the trails. In 1985, when the lava was still hot, you would ride across it and see the steam, smell sulfur and feel the heat. The organizers went out onto the flows with sledgehammers and had smashed out a trail that you could actually ride your motorcycle across.
Once you made it out of the lava flows, you were up on the mountain and raced on some fast bulldozed roads, many of which contained deep silt beds. This part was similar to a desert race. Up there the jetting on the bikes was completely off and it was all you could do just to keep momentum going. At the finish of day one you would end up at the Kilo Hana impound, also known as the Mauna Kea State Park. After impound riders would leave and head back to their hotels to prep themselves for day two.
During the hey days of the event (1976-1998), we got a few great riders over to tackle the race. I competed against [AMA] National Enduro Champion and three-time Mauna Kea 200 winner Kevin Hines, ISDE hero Fred Hoess, Scot Harden, Alan Randt, motocrosser Ricky Johnson and even Malcolm Smith came over and enjoyed a good beating in the woods a few times. There was a fair bit of interest [in competing] here. A lot of guys just couldn’t come over to race because of the logistics involved in getting the bikes and support crews over here to the Big Island.
Philip Oveland in Hawaii
© Oveland Images
I was fortunate enough to win the event outright five times in recent years. My best memory was in 1995 when I was on a team with Kevin Hines and Alan Randt; we were the only three-rider team to finish the race. That year the notorious Rubber Ducky Racing Team put on the event and used some of the toughest trails ever seen in the Mauna Kea. Twenty miles into the race I crashed following Hines and put a 14-stitch gash in my hand. I taped it up at mid-day and just kept racing. In the end I was the only four-stroke motorbike to finish and the only Open-class rider to finish as well. We finished first, third and fourth overall and won the team race. To me, that’s my greatest Mauna Kea achievement to date.
Much like the demise of the famed Blackwater 100 in Davis, West Virginia, the powers that be put an end to the Mauna Kea Enduro that you and I know. The Department of Land and Natural Resources required us to put up a huge bond. It was just impossible for it to happen anymore. The money required to continue was just ridiculous so now the Mauna Kea event is a dual-sport ride. It’s still a two-day event, but you need a fully street-legal dirt bike to compete now. The hard enduro part of the Mauna Kea 200 is over.
To go to a race like the old Mauna Kea Enduro, sign up and truly be competitive, you have to have a screw loose (laughs). It’s been said that it wasn’t the toughest race ever, but it was just relentless. Mauna Kea was one muddy, miserable, rock-covered trail after another, hour after hour--it just never stopped punishing you. While racing we would spend eight hours a day on our bikes.
Over here in the islands we have another really tough event that we ride called the Kauai Hare and Hound. The winner will often take seven hours to go the total race distance--just 30 miles!
RB: That’s a great story, but I still hate you for that Mud Lane ride.
PO: I have some tissue with a KTM logo on them. Want one?
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