diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/EventCache.h b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/EventCache.h
index 2701a739222f9..f6bc3ba69b720 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/EventCache.h
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/EventCache.h
@@ -69,7 +69,11 @@ namespace cms::alpakatools {
 
   private:
     std::shared_ptr<Event> makeOrGet(Device dev) {
-      return cache_[alpaka::getNativeHandle(dev)].makeOrGet([dev]() { return std::make_unique<Event>(dev); });
+      return cache_[alpaka::getNativeHandle(dev)].makeOrGet([dev]() {
+        // We want non-busy waits
+        bool constexpr busyWait = false;
+        return std::make_unique<Event>(dev, busyWait);
+      });
     }
 
     // not thread safe, intended to be called only from AlpakaService
diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/EDMetadata.h b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/EDMetadata.h
index ddfb9f706621b..bc1882e645594 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/EDMetadata.h
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/EDMetadata.h
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 
 #include "FWCore/Concurrency/interface/WaitingTaskWithArenaHolder.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaInterface/interface/config.h"
-#include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaInterface/interface/HostOnlyTask.h"
 
 namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
   /**
diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/EDMetadata.cc b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/EDMetadata.cc
index 8847d9b3f8e71..693265bffe600 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/EDMetadata.cc
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/EDMetadata.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include <alpaka/alpaka.hpp>
 
+#include "FWCore/Concurrency/interface/async.h"
 #include "FWCore/Utilities/interface/EDMException.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/EDMetadata.h"
 
@@ -23,11 +24,8 @@ namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
   }
 
   void EDMetadata::enqueueCallback(edm::WaitingTaskWithArenaHolder holder) {
-    alpaka::enqueue(*queue_, alpaka::HostOnlyTask([holder = std::move(holder)](std::exception_ptr eptr) {
-      // The functor is required to be const, but the original waitingTaskHolder_
-      // needs to be notified...
-      const_cast<edm::WaitingTaskWithArenaHolder&>(holder).doneWaiting(eptr);
-    }));
+    recordEvent();
+    edm::async(std::move(holder), [event = event_]() mutable { alpaka::wait(*event); });
   }
 
   void EDMetadata::synchronize(EDMetadata& consumer, bool tryReuseQueue) const {