NO LONGER THE PACER, KERIO HOPES TO WIN HONOLULU MARATHON
By Rich Sands, @sands
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

HONOLULU (08-Dec) -- Reuben Kiprop Kerio will be making his sixth start in the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday, but if all goes according to plan it will be only his second time crossing the finish line in Kapiolani Regional Park in Waikiki. And that’s been by design: the 29-year-old Kenyan has served as the pacer for the event four times since 2017, so finishing wasn’t his objective those years.

In his one previous appearance running the full 42.195 kilometers, in 2018, Kerio finished second. Now he’s ready to see if he can improve on that position. “I would like to win this race,” he told Race Results Weekly on Friday. “I want to show that I am not just here for pacing.”

His history shows that he is indeed a bona fide contender. He has won the Kosice Peace Marathon in Slovakia three times (2017, ’21 and ’22) as well as the 2019 Madrid Marathon. And Kerio’s solid personal best of 2:07:00 was set before the truly best super shoes were introduced, when he finished second in Eindhoven, Netherlands, in 2019.

He arrived in Hawaii just over two months after his last marathon, a fourth-place finish on October 1 in Kosice in 2:07:56. “I have recovered well from that race,” says Kerio, who is based in Nyahururu, an agricultural town that sits at about 7500 feet (2300 meters) of elevation. “It wasn’t difficult. I took two weeks to recover and when I started again I was moving very well.”

He’ll need to be moving very well on Sunday if he wants to win. This year’s Honolulu Marathon, the 51st running, features a strong field of professional athletes as the event continues its steady rebuild following the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those Kerio will be facing are fellow Kenyan Paul Lonyangata (2:06:10 personal best), Ethiopian Abayneh Degu (2:04:53) and U.S.-based Eritreans Filmon Ande (2:06:38) and Tsegay Weldlibanos (2:09:07).

Kerio welcomes the competition. “The more runners around me, the better it is to run well,” he says. “When it is just two or three runners it is harder.”

One thing that will make it easier for him this year is that he won’t be the one out front in the early going, fighting the strong winds that the runners can sometimes face here. Kenyan Dickson Chumba, whose deep resume includes two wins at the Tokyo Marathon and one in Chicago, will be filling that role this year. “The wind is very tough,” Kerio says. “But it is more challenging if I am the pacer. And if the wind isn’t too strong, the course is not too hard for me.”

One feature of the course that he likes in particular is the out-and-back route, which allows the mass participants, on their way towards the turnaround point at Hawaii Kai, a chance to see (and cheer for) the leaders as they head back to Waikiki. “I like the crowd support so much,” Kerio says. “They give support to us when we see them.”

And that support comes in handy on a course where the event record is 2:08:00 (2:09:59.02), set by Titus Ekiru in 2019 (Ekiru was later banned for doping but his Honolulu performance still stands). There are some challenging climbs, particularly around the Diamond Head volcanic crater, which runners pass twice, including late in the race when fatigue is already a factor. A $25,000 first-place prize awaits at the finish line, as well as solid-gold winner’s medal worth approximately $15,000.

Last year, 14,271 runners finished the race, and organizers are expecting over 15,000 this year, which will make it the fourth largest marathon in the United States for 2023, trailing only the World Marathon Majors races in New York, Boston and Chicago.

Kerio hopes to be the first of those finishers. He focuses his training exclusively on the distance, which he says has been the key to his success and longevity.

“I like the marathon because if you work hard, you will perform well,” he says. “Yes, it is hard work, but I like the [training] program because I focus on only the marathon, no other events. If you mix in other events the program can become very challenging.”


PHOTO: Reuben Kerio finishing second in the 2018 Honolulu Marathon in 2:12:59 (photo courtesy of the Honolulu Marathon Association)