Lauren Spalding Bartlett – World Class Athlete

World Class Athlete & Hawaii Life Agent – Lauren Spalding Bartlett

Lauren Spalding Bartlett – Preparing for 2004 Olympics

If your definition of a World Class Athlete is someone who is lucky enough to participate in their favorite sport, get sponsored, and travel the world while doing it, then our Maui agent, Lauren Spalding Bartlett, definitely qualifies.

Lauren Spalding Bartlett represented the USA in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece participating in the K-2 500m and K-4 500m events. No medals were brought home to Hawai’i, but the commitment and dedication it took to even make the Olympic team is unfathomable.

Team Bradley — Six-time Na Wahine O Ke Kai Champions

On September 26^th, 2010, she and her Team Bradley crew of 10 women from around the state, participated in, and won, the coveted Na Wahine O Ke Kai title for a record 6^th consecutive year. Na Wahine O Ke Kai is the pinnacle of women’s sports in Hawaii. It is a grueling 41.7 mile race across the Ka’iwi Channel, between Moloka’i and Oahu, and can take anywhere from 5.5 to 7.5 hours to complete.

The competition is carried out in fiberglass and koa six-person canoes, with five paddlers, one steersman, and four relief paddlers. Each canoe has a motorized escort boat that accompanies them. It carries the coach, and the four extra relief paddlers that are dropped at intervals ahead of the canoe. These are called “water changes,” and the designated existing paddlers bail out the right side of the canoe while the relief paddlers pull themselves into the canoe on the left. Sounds fairly easy right? Try pulling all of your body weight out of the water into a boat that is about three feet above your head while it is moving, people are jumping out, and swells are pushing it!

The men’s race, the Moloka’i Hoe, which is over the same distance, began in 1952. Not until 1979 did they allow women to form their own race over the treacherous Ka’iwi Channel. Since then, there have been stellar performances and many paddling dynasties have formed.

On October 10^th, 2010 Lauren’s husband, Kai Bartlett, who is the owner and creator of the Kai Wa’a Canoe, line led his Team Primo to an impressive 5^th place finish in the Moloka’i Hoe. They competed against the professional teams from Tahiti and Australia, over the same channel as the women, and Tahiti took first breaking the existing record.

We are proud to have Lauren Spalding Bartlett as a part of our Hawai’i Life team. At Hawai’i Life Real Estate Services we encourage our agents to live and embrace the “Hawai’i Life” to the fullest. Several of our agents are born and raised here and know the land and ocean, and all that it has to offer our clients. When picking an agent, it is important to some that you have a connection with that person. Here in Hawai’i, we take that connection seriously! Whether you enjoy golfing, paddling, surfing, technology, quilt making, botany, or fishing I can assure you one, or more, of our agents has experience in this area.

I believe that knowing your client includes understanding their lifestyle, and informing them of what living in Hawai’i has to offer. By the way, I paddled the race as well, but let’s just say I finished a few minutes behind these all-stars….

For more information on “Living your Hawaii Life” please take some time to peruse through my gallery of hand picked Maui Luxury Properties, or contact me directly.