Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Time: Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the buffet starting shortly thereafter. Program to follow around 6:00 p.m.
Place: Outrigger Canoe Club, Koa Lanai
Tickets are sold out.
Included in admission:
Buffet dinner and complimentary beverage.
The program will include a panel of Hawaii athletes who have excelled at the highest levels: Mark Towill (Sailing), Wyatt Jones (Canoeing), and Shelley Oates-Wilding (Canoeing & Kayaking). They will share advice with our young leaders and the rest of the audience about competition and life. All attending ODKF scholarships will be celebrated on stage. Duke Award finalists will be showcased and the Duke Award winner of a $12,000 scholarship will be announced live on stage.
Parking:
There will be some onsite parking at the venue but it will likely be limited. Please email info@dukefoundation.org if your group requires onsite handicapped parking. Free street parking may be found on the opposite side of Kapiolani Park along Paki Avenue, a quick walk directly across the park from the mauka side.
Dress Code:
The dress code is casual but please note that tank tops, athletic wear, swimwear, and/or rubber slippers are not acceptable on the Koa Lanai where the event will be held.
For more information, contact info@dukefoundation.org.
Mark Towill is the CEO of 11th Hour Racing Team which in July 2023 won The Ocean Race 2022-23, the world’s longest and toughest team sporting event. A professional sailor for fifteen years, Mark has himself competed twice in The Ocean Race. He is the first [American] CEO to lead a US-flagged team to victory in the race’s 50-year history. In addition to his three around-the-world races, Mark has competed in and won many of the world’s most prestigious ocean events, including the Transatlantic, Transpac, Fastnet, Bermuda Race, and Pacific Cup. Mark is a passionate ocean advocate and has used his sailing teams as a platform for creating and inspiring change in ocean health. Mark resides in Hawaii and is a Board Member of Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii and The Marimed Foundation.
In the early 1990s, Wyatt Jones won three titles in flatwater canoeing at the US Nationals and he competed at the Pan American Games, finishing third in C2-1,000. He represented the US in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics racing the C2-1,000 but was eliminated in the semi-finals. After a shoulder injury, he transitioned to kayaking and raced with the Flat Water Sprint national team. He later coached the boys' canoe program at Hui Nalu and more recently was the head coach of the Hawaii Canoe and Kayak Team, twice taking athletes to the Olympic Flatwater Sprint Kayak Trials. A former Honolulu ocean lifeguard and firefighter, Wyatt is now a pilot with Hawaiian Airlines.
Shelley has enjoyed walking in the Duke's footsteps to be the best “waterman” she can be. Through surf life saving she became a world-champion ocean surfski paddler. She went on to compete in canoe sprint kayaking representing Australia in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She also won the Molokai nine times with three different outrigger canoe teams. She serves as the president of Ikaika Hawaii Watermans Academy, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating youths in Ocean Safety and Stewardship. She is also the USA National Head Kayak Coach honored with coaching at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics in preparation for developing a full team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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