STRONG AND DIVERSE FIELDS VIE FOR HONOLULU MARATHON TITLES
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

HONOLULU (10-Dec) -- The global marathon season comes to a close on Sunday when the world's largest and richest tropical marathon takes place here for the 36th time.  Organizers have assembled strong and diverse elite fields, and no man or woman has a firm lock on the USD 40,000 first prizes.

"What I think is interesting is that only six athletes have run the race before," said race director Jon Cross who assembled the elite fields. 

Cross said that three athletes on the men's side were likely the hardest to beat.  The obvious choice is six-time Honolulu champion Jimmy Muindi of Kenya who was declared the winner of last year's contest after Ethiopian Ambesse Tolosa was disqualified for a doping violation after crossing the finish line in Kapiolani Park first.  Muindi is a veteran of 38 marathons and has a personal best of 2:07:50 set at Rotterdam in 2005.

"It is very much possible to win it," Muindi said in an interview here yesterday.  "My training was very fine."

His chief rival is likely to be 2007 Bank of America Chicago Marathon champion Patrick Ivuti of Kenya, Muindi's brother-in-law (he's married to Muindi's sister, Marietta).  Ivuti, who is making his Honolulu debut, is a very good runner in hot and humid conditions.  He brings a personal best time of 2:07:46 to the race.

Another Ethiopian, Hailu Negussie, is trying to get his marathon career back on track after dropping out of three of his last four marathons.  Cross definitely sees him as a contender.

"He's a 2:08 guy who's won Boston so you can't count him out," said Cross.

Australian Andrew Letherby, the 2002 Commonwealth Games Marathon bronze medalist, is also in the field (2:11:42 PB), while Muindi has brought several members of his Kenyan training group: Stephen Njoroge Kinyanjui, Joseph Mutiso Wambua, Pius Muasa Mutuku, and Samuel Mwangi Gichohi.  Wambua is the strongest of this crew with a 2:10:33 career best; Gichohi will be pacemaking.

A USD 10,000 bonus is on the line for a new men's course record (2:11:12), a strong time given the high humidity, tough hills, and strong trade winds which make running here uniquely difficult.


BIKTIMIROVA LOOKS TO DEFEND WOMEN'S TITLE

Alevtina Biktimirova is having the best year of her career, finishing second at both the Boston and Bank of America Chicago Marathons.  The sturdily-build Russian comes into this year's race as the defending champion after drubbing the field last year by over a minute.

"She is definitely ready," said her agent Andrey Baranov.

Biktimirova, and compatriot Lyubov Morgunova, both have personal best times of 2:25:12, making them the fastest women in the field.  Morgunova is a three-time Honolulu Marathon champion (she last won in 2004), but she could be a little tired after finishing ninth at the ING New York City Marathon last month.

"Morgunova's won here three times so she really knows the course," observed Cross.

Japan's Kiyoko Shimahara also has a very good chance at winning.  She, like Biktimirova, ran at Chicago last October finishing third in very warm conditions.  She has a personal best time of 2:26:14 set at the Hokkaido Marathon in 2005.  She's hoping for a leg up because here Second Wind AC teammate, Kaori Yoshida, is one of the event's pacemakers.

The Russian ultra marathon twins, Olesya and Elena Nurgalieva, are also entered.  The twins finished 1-2 at both the Two Oceans (Olesya won) and Comrades ultra marathons (Elena won) this year.  Olesya, who won Honolulu in 2005, set a personal best time of 2:27:37, finishing second at the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon last October (Elena finished ninth).

Not to be overlooked is the two-time Olympian at 10,000m, Alice Timbilili of Kenya.  She was originally scheduled to run the ING New York City Marathon last month, but had to withdraw with a sudden thigh injury.  She ran a personal best 2:26:45 at Paris last April.

"She's a dark horse," said Cross.  "Rosa (Federico Rosa, her agent) said she's very motivated."

There is also a USD 10,000 course record incentive on offer for the women.  The best mark here was 2:27:19 by Russian Lyubov Denisova in 2006.

The Honolulu Marathon is the third-largest marathon in the United States after New York and Chicago.  Last year's edition recorded 23,299 official finishers.  The event is particularly popular with Japanese runners, over 15,000 of whom flock here to run the race, attracted by the warm island hospitality known as the "aloha spirit."  The race is perhaps the most welcoming of any marathon because it has an open finish line, with no time limit.  The event starts in darkness at 5:00 a.m., and the last finisher usually doesn't get in until darkness sets in again at the end of the day.  Race staff and volunteers remain at the finish line to cheer every finisher home.