David Wild arrived on the Big Island a year ago, the day before the inaugural Hilo Triathlon, and watched as a spectator.
He jumped into the second edition, and nearly took the men’s title — an Olympic-sized 1.5 kilometer swim, 40k bike and 10k run — on Sunday at James Kealoha Beach Park.
Luis De La Torre, also a spectator last year, won in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 39 seconds, ahead of Wild’s 2:08:00.
Through the stoke of serendipity, both met as fans and found themselves as friendly opponents a year later. (They had a nice bro-hug after the race.