WIND, WEATHER COULD BE BIG FACTOR AT HONOLULU MARATHON
By Chris Lotsbom, @ChrisLotsbom
(c) 2014 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

HONOLULU (13-Dec) -- With less than 24 hours until the start of the 42nd annual Honolulu Marathon, more than 31,000 athletes are finishing up their final preparations, readying themselves for the 26.2 mile journey from Ala Moana Beach Park to Kapiolani Park. All week, beautiful sunshine has been present here, temperatures hovering in the 70-degree (21C) range with moderate humidity. However, it appears that the weather will take a sudden change prior to the starting gun sounding at 5:00am Sunday, with very high winds expected to sweep through the state's capitol city.

"We couldn't ask for a better start to the weekend," said meteorologist Justin Cruz on local television station KHON-2. "The Trade Winds are going to increase in a very big way," putting extra emphasis on the word very.

Cruz continued: "Big picture, high pressure is very strong and that is going to bring very gusty trades to the islands. We are talking 20 to 35 mile-per-hour (32 to 56 KPH) sustained winds with gusts to 50 miles-per-hour (80 KPH) this weekend. That's all possible."

In addition, clouds and a very light rain are possible tomorrow morning.

At 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, hundreds of runners were getting their final shake out runs done along Waikiki Beach. On Diamond Head Road, many had stopped to take in the the high wave swells visible from the shore, which a plethora of surfers were taking advantage of.

Speaking to Race Results Weekly on Thursday, a number of elite athletes said they were keeping their eye on the weather forecasts and high-wind possibility. Both Ethiopian Yemane Adhane and Kenyan Joyce Chepkirui mentioned the wind could have an impact on their racing strategies.

"This city is very nice and very pretty and very beautiful and [has] a very big, nice ocean. So from that [ocean comes] humid and wind," said Adhane, speaking as if he was very knowledgeable in forecasts. "Wind will come because wind sometimes starts from the ocean. I will try for a good time, for the win, even still aim for course record. My training has been for course record. But if windy, I don't know."

"I don't know about the time because here it depends on the weather," said Chepkirui. "I don't know if I am going to run a good time because of the humidity or wind. It is all about winning, no time."

If the wind is as predicted, Jimmy Muindi and Lyubov Denisova's event and course records of 2:11:12 and 2:27:19 will likely last another year.

"We are expecting the winds to pick up on Saturday and Sunday as high pressure builds in from the west," reiterated Cam Tran of KITV-4, Honolulu's ABC affiliate. "We are also looking at a cold front moving in that will bring an uptick in showers late day Saturday into Sunday right in time for the Honolulu Marathon. We aren't expecting anything too heavy out there, but the light shower activity could make the roadways a bit damp."

PHOTO: Winds have been calm at Waikiki Beach all week, but are expected to pick up sharply for the 42nd Honolulu Marathon (photo by Ronen Zilberman for the Honolulu Marathon; used with permission)