ETHIOPIA'S YEMANE ADHANE SEEKS TO END KENYAN DOMINANCE AT HONOLULU MARATHON
By Chris Lotsbom, @ChrisLotsbom
(c) 2014 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

HONOLULU (12-Dec) -- With his feet soaking in the warm waters of Waikiki Beach, Ethiopia's Yemane Adhane softly strums a ukulele, smiling from ear to ear. Having just completed an elite athlete photo shoot on the beach, Adhane is in a good mood. He tosses a beach ball and mingles with his fellow competitors, laughing heartily.

Come Sunday, when Adhane toes the start line for the 42nd Honolulu Marathon, his focus will shift from play to work. Going into the race, Adhane told Race Results Weekly he has two things on his mind: 1) winning the race and thus ending a long run of Kenyan dominance and 2) setting a course record.

"I am very excited. Training has gone very nice, very well in Addis," said Adhane, 29, sporting a multi-colored lei around his neck. "I think many years no winning Ethiopian athletes. Maybe I will break the streak!"

The Honolulu Marathon has indeed been dominated in recent years by men from Kenya, winning seventeen of the last eighteen races. The only non-Kenyan to win since 1996 was Ethiopia's Ambesse Tolossa in 2006 (Tolossa was first across the line at the 2007 Honolulu Marathon as well, though subsequently was disqualified after failing a drug test).

Adhane, a veteran of twenty marathons including eleven sub-2:10 performances, is anticipating a tough challenge from his fellow East Africans. Defending champion Gilbert Chepkwony, 2013 runner-up Nicholas Chelimo, and three-time TCS Amsterdam Marathon champion Wilson Chebet are entered; all three are from Kenya.

While his main priority is taking the victory, Adhane's secondary goal is to break James Muindi's course and event record of 2:11:12. Training 180 to 200 kilometers a week (111.8 to 124.3 miles), Adhane feels ready to attack the course. If he sets the course record, he'll complete a stellar personal trifecta, and earn a $15,000 bonus on top of the $40,000 winner's check.

In each of the two marathons Adhane has entered this year, he's won in course record fashion. At the Daegu Marathon in April, Adhane timed 2:06:51. Then at the Tamarack Ottawa Marathon in May, he finished first in 2:06:54. While he thinks another 2:06 marathon may be a stretch given the expected weather conditions (humid and a bit windy), Adhane feels dipping under 2:11 is well within reason.

"Here, I do not know because of the course and I look on the internet and previous times they run not as fast [as 2:06]. Even the fastest athlete [former world record holder Wilson] Kipsang ran here in 2012 and ran 2:12. So I do not know. I look at this competition as it may be difficult.

"I will try for a good time. I ran Daegu in 2:06, course record. In Ottawa, 2:06, course record. In Honolulu, also I need the course record. Hat trick, three times. I will see according to my body to push," he continued. "I have had hard training for this competition and I will see my best."

The Kenyan contingent here aren't going to let Adhane --who has the fastest personal best in the field with a 2:04:48 clocking-- run away with the win. Chelimo, second a year ago, said the Kenyan winning tradition is important.

"[The history] is special, it is very special. It is very important to winning. We will work together to win," he said. "We have a strong group of guys."

Interestingly enough, there has never been a Kenyan women's champion in the 41-year history of the Honolulu Marathon. Joyce Chepkirui will try to change that come Sunday.

"I have trained enough and am waiting for Sunday. I am feeling very good," she said. "I don't know if I am going to run a fast time because of the humidity, but it is all about winning."  She added: "It will be very special that I win if I do. I am going to try my best and make Kenya happy. I am going to try."

She'll be up against reigning champion Ehitu Kiros of Ethiopia, Croatia's Lisa Nemec, Burundi's Diane Nukuri, and Kenyan compatriots Sarah Kiptoo and Isabellah Ochichi.


PHOTO: Ethiopian marathoner Yemane Adhane with Diamond Head in the background in advance of the 2014 Honolulu Marathon (photo by Ronen Zilberman for the Honolulu Marathon; used with permission)

PHOTO: Some of the elite athletes running the 2014 Honolulu Marathon enjoy a light moment on Waikiki Beach (left to right): Yemane Adhane, Gebretsadik Abraha, Benjamin Koloum, Nicholas Chelimo, and Kiplimo Kimutai holding Ehitu Kiros (photo by Ronen Zilberman for the Honolulu Marathon; used with permission)

ENDS