Athletes To Shine At Aloha Gymfest

Kokokahi Gymnastics Team is shown getting back to its roots at Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden, prior to the team’s annual gymfest this weekend at Le Jardin Academy. The event is known for featuring future Olympians, such as Amand Borden and Japan’s Miho Takenaka. Photo from the team.

Besides producing top-performing athletes, Kokokahi Gymnastics Team also breaks records in attendance and duration when it puts on its annual gymfest.

Now in its 39th year, the team-sponsored Aloha Gymfest is the second longest-running gymnastics competition in the nation.

More than 330 gymnasts from 23 teams across the globe will converge on Le Jardin Academy’s gymnasium this Friday through Sunday, with the top performers competing at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Parents in the nonprofit Kaneohe club have been coordinating the sanctioned event since 1976. This year, young lithe athletes are coming from Japan, Canada, Guam and the Mainland to compete over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Parents and volunteers also host an international picnic for their guests.

Among the club’s shining stars over the years is Kailua’s Kiralee Hayashi, who was Kristen Stewart’s stunt woman in the Twilight movie series; she also worked on Transformers (2014) and was an NCAA All-American gymnast at UCLA.

For a complete schedule and more information, call 235-6866, visit kokokahigymnastics.com or email alohagymfest@gmail.com.