Jimmy Muindi takes the men's title in Honolulu but misses course record target (© Getty Images)
When Jimmy Muindi steps to the starting line of Sunday's Honolulu Marathon (10 Dec), it will be the 13th time he will attempt to reign supreme in the world's largest and most competitive tropical marathon. The 33-year-old Kenyan, who holds the course record of 2:11:12, has been successful on five previous occasions, including the last three years. Is this run of success likely to be broken this year?
“Well, I think that it's hard to beat Jimmy Muindi out there,” said co-race director, Jon Cross, who recruits the top athletes for the event. “He's run the course twelve times, and he's won it five times. He's still the favourite.”
Muindi, 33, won handily last year, easing away from his rivals before the half-way mark and coasting to the finish line adjacent to Waikiki Beach in 2:12-flat, more than three minutes ahead of second place Mbarak Hussein, the Kenyan-born American from Albuquerque, N.M. The organizers don't want Muindi to have such an easy time of it this year, and did his best to recruit some formidable challengers.
"I really tried hard to find someone who could run with him," said Cross. "Two of the guys I wanted to have run with him got injured."
Those two athletes were Christopher Isegwe of Tanzania, the 2005 World Championships silver medallist, and Patrick Ivuti of Kenya, the talented half- marathoner who ran 2:07:46 at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in 2005, and took the silver at the World Cross Country Championships in 2003. Nonetheless, the race has recruited a clutch of Ethiopians to challenge Muindi, including Ambesse Tolossa, who won the Tokyo International Marathon last February in 2:08:58, just two seconds off of his career best time.
"What's going to be interesting this year is this is the first time we have four Ethiopians against the Kenyans," said Cross. "I'm thinking that there may be some country tactics going on."
The rest of Team Kenya consists of Eric Nzioki (2:10:34 PB) who was third here last year, Eric Wainaina (2:08:43) a two-time Olympic medallist who has struggled as of late, Nicholas Muindi (2:15:59), and Simon Kiprop who has started a number of marathons as a pacemaker but who has yet to finish one. The other members of Team Ethiopia are Tekeste Kebede (2:11:48 PB), Belay Wolashe (2:10:57) and Araya Haregot (2:11:56).
Nurgalieva twins lead women's field
Olesya Nurgalieva, the defending champion, leads the women's field which is dominated by athletes from Russia. Nurgalieva, with a personal best of
2:29:35 set in New York in 2005, overwhelmed all of her rivals last year to win by about two and one-half minutes. Her twin sister, Elena, finished fourth.
"The twins are tough," said Cross. But he also felt that Albina Ivanova, who has a personal best time of 2:25:35 and who has made the podium here three times, and Lyubov Denisova, the two-time Los Angeles Marathon champion with a career best time of 2:25:18, should also be in the hunt for victory.
"I also think that Lyubov Denisova will be really tough because I think she has something to prove because she wasn't able to get into other races. She feels she's better than the other Russians who came here. She's run part of the course as a pacesetter (in 2002) and I think she's going to be highly motivated."
Not to be left out are another Russian, Alevtina Biktimirova, with a personal best of 2:25:12, and the lone Japanese woman who could get the win, Eri Hayakawa. She won Honolulu in 2003 and was second in 2004 and 2005.
General
Sunday's winners will each receive USD 40,000, with a chance for a $10,000 bonus for breaking the course records (2:11:12 and 2:27:33, respectively). The race also offers an impressive schedule of time bonuses which tops out at $50,000 for sub-2:06:50 for men and sub-2:21:06 for women. Those times are unlikely given the warm temperatures and soaking humidity which are customary here.
28,000 registered runners are expected for the race, with the majority coming from Japan, making Honolulu the third largest marathon in the United States after New York and Chicago.
David Monti – Race Results Weekly – for the IAAF
