Posted: December 9, 2004

Athletics: Over 24,000 Entrants For Honolulu Marathon

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

HONOLULU (08-Dec) -- They are streaming in by the thousands for Sunday's Honolulu Marathon, the largest Japanese marathon in the world.

Japan Airlines (JAL), the primary sponsor of the race, has to rent additional jets to get all of the 14,618 Japanese to the island of Oahu who have registered for the race. They form the backbone of the 24,023 athletes who have entered.

Jerry Agrusa, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University, told RRW that the strong Yen and Euro were making the race particilarly popular this year. His economic survey indicates that the marathon has an $86 million financial impact on Hawaii's economy and that the Japanese account for 89% of it.

Although Eri Hayakawa of Japan won the women's race here last year, the typical Japanese participant isn't interested in running fast. Typical were two women whom your editor met at the airport last night. In their early 20's, each admitted that they hadn't done any dedicated training for the event, yet hoped to finish.

"I can run eight miles without stopping," said the first one, an exchange student studying in Seattle. She quickly added, "But the race is 26 miles!" Both of them burst out in laughter.

The elite women's race will see Hayakawa return to defend her title against Russians Alevtina Ivanova, Albina Ivanova, and Lyubov Morgunova, while on the men's side defending champion Jimmy Muindi will once again battle it out with his arch rival Mbarak Hussein. Between those two Kenyan men, they have won every edition of this marathon since 1998. Two-time champion, Erick Kimaiyo, could also be in the mix at the front.

Sunday's race begins in darkness at 5:00 a.m.