Honolulu marathon introduces elite stars of the future
By Timothy Carlson

The 5 a.m. start ensures that runners will avoid much of the midday heat

Josiah Thungwane, the great 1996 Olympic champion from the Republic of South Africa, who had a breakthrough victory in intense 89-degree heat at Honolulu last year, won’t be defending his crown here Sunday. Neither will 1993 Honolulu winner Bong Ju Lee of Korea, who trailed Thungwane by only three seconds in Atlanta in the closest Olympic Marathon duel ever. Then there is 1985-87 Honolulu winner Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya. He started winning bigger races in Boston and New York and never came back. Even Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya, a two-time Honolulu runner-up, got the Honolulu happy feet and abandoned Hawaii for a three-year victory streak, earning the colder cash of Boston.

But Honolulu Marathon Association president Dr. Jim Barahal and athlete coordinator Dr. Jon Cross do not feel double-crossed. That’s because Honolulu, with its more modest $20,000 first-place prizes and appearance fees, has turned its forced economy into a strength. This race picks the stars of the future. Race-watchers call Honolulu "the breeding ground of champions" and have the record to back it up. Since 1985, as marathon expert Tony Reavis points out, Honolulu champions have produced six Boston Marathon titles, one New York championship, and gold and silver medals in Atlanta.

So the organizers don't worry about Thungwane and company--they are already in the past. The organizers are in the hunt for the 2000 Olympic marathon champion, and feel they just might have him and/or her in this field.

"I was obviously thrilled for Josiah," said Barahal of the stirring victory of the black South African mine worker whose waif-like 99-pound frame was sturdy enough to dig out the gold. "But knowing the marathon marketplace as I do, I knew it was going to put him in a price range we couldn’t afford."

The prize for Olympic gold or winning in New York, Boston, or Fukuoka, is in six figures. But the reward at Honolulu--where a victory against a tough, international up-and-coming field in usually brutal tropical heat--is incalculable.

So Barahal and Cross--much like great baseball talent judges who get a few years out of some great rookies before losing them to moneybags like Steinbrenner’s Yankees when free agency hits--have done it again. This year’s Honolulu Marathon field provides a window into the future, as well.

Following in Thungwane’s footsteps is Honolulu co-favorite David Tsebe, of the Republic of South Africa, with a 2:08:07 best at the 1992 Berlin marathon. Shortly after that is countryman Thabiso Moqhali, with a 2:10:55 at London in 1992.

The Kenyan contingent is led by Eric Kimaiyo, who ran a 2:10:47 at Tokyo, and the man who is the most significant exception to the Leaving Honolulu Syndrome, Benson Masya. Masya has only lost once in four tries on the island, including a miss by just 10 seconds in a stirring duel with Olympic champion Thungwane last year.

His victories in 1991, 1992, and 1994 at Honolulu include a 2:14:19 best in the heat, and seemed to presage greater things to come. Indeed, Masya became Road Runner of the Year for the second time this year, but the big breakthrough in marathons elsewhere have eluded him so far. He is discouraged by his relatively pedestrian marathon PR of 2:12:34 at wind-aided Boston in 1994. This year his high hopes for a New York victory were dashed in the cold where he suffered a 2:16:36 for 15th place, a far cry from the success of his cousin, Cosmas Ndeti, and the fame he acquired with his string of Boston successes.

"The world will hear of me," Masya told marathon expert Reavis.

Yet as he matures he sees how precious Honolulu is to him and vows to defeat all the hot young challengers here, those who have the same unlimited ambitions he began with. They include Zabron Miano, who scored a 2:14:26 at Boston in 1994, and Jimmy Muindi, whose 2:17:54 best seems ordinary until you realize it was done in the cauldron that was Honolulu last year.

Perhaps a bigger threat, if he paces himself correctly, is Tanzania’s Francis Nade, who is making his marathon debut coming off a truly world-class, dangerously fast half-marathon mark of 1:01:04, just a minute and a half off the world mark.

The resurgent Koreans have sent several challengers, notably Yi Yong Kim, with a 2:09:36 at the 1996 Dong-A International Marathon this year, and Gung Won Ko (2:14:12). Sung Keun Oh (2:15:06) placed at the 1996 Dong-A as well. And don't forget the marathon debuts of In Mo Je and Choon Keun Ji, who have half-marathon PRs of 1:03:39 and 1:04:10, respectively.

Also contending is Brazil’s Andre Ramos, who posted a 2:14:51 at Boston this year, and Poland’s Grzegorz Glogosz, whose name may be vowel-deprived but whose talent is not in glycogen debt, with a 1:03:51 half-marathon PR.

Perhaps overshadowing the men is an even more impressive women’s field, with six contenders at or under the 2:30:00 mark--roughly equivalent to 2:12 men’s marathoners. They are led by Honolulu’s answer to eight-time Ironman champion Paula Newby-Fraser: eight-time Honolulu champion Carla Beurskens of Holland.

Beurskens began her career running the 800 meters against Ingrid Kristiansen and Grete Waitz but has outlasted them all. She set a PR of 2:26:34 at Tokyo in 1987, but perhaps even more impressive is her event record at Honolulu, 2:31:01, set in the unseasonable cold year--59 degrees at the start--of 1986. Or perhaps it was her masters and current course record of 2:32:13 she set in winning the 1992 Honolulu Marathon.

Beurskens's eight-year undefeated streak was broken last year by South Africa’s Colleen DeReuck, who was futilely chasing an Olympic qualifying time of 2:32 (she ran a still-impressive 2:37) in the broiling Honolulu pre-dawn heat. But Beurskens was ailing.

This year, at 44, she is no longer the prohibitive favorite. Now she faces Yoshihiko Yamamoto, who ran a 2:26:26 in the 1992 Boston Marathon; Ramila Burangulova of Russia, who ran a 2:27:58 at the 1996 Nagoya International Ladies Marathon; Eriko Assi of Japan, with a 2:28:22 in 1993 at Nagoya; Aniela Nikiel of Poland, with a 2:29:19 at 1995 Reims; and Mi Ja Oh of South Korea, with a 2:30:23 at Dong-A this year. Other top women include Salina Chirchair of Kenya, with a 2:32:35 PR at Houston this year; Solange de Souza, Brazil, with a 2:34:54 at Boston; and Svetlana Vasilyeva, Russia, with a 2:36:44 at Austin.

Lately, local storms have brought rain and strong, swirling gusty winds to Oahu--promising to make the marathon cooler and making a new course record a possibility.

Honolulu has the distinction of being the world’s biggest regularly run marathon with 34,434 entries and 27,022 finishers last year, edging New York in that category by 54. This year the once-in-a-lifetime 100th anniversary Boston Marathon, with 38,706 entries and 35,810 official finishers, will likely take the numbers crown temporarily back from the democratic, exotic, tropical international Honolulu Marathon.

The race's history began modestly in 1973 with 262 runners and was won by the legendary Honolulu champ Hawaiian Duncan MacDonald in 2:27:34. Women’s champion June Chun ran an even more modest 3:25:31. By 1975, Jack Foster of New Zealand put the times back in the world class (in the heat) game with a 2:17:24 and entries rose to 782. In 1976, they rose to 1,670; to 7,204 in 1978; to 13,268 in 1990; and to 34,434 last year.

Honolulu used to be a low-intensity holiday race for those elite runners who weren't going to the more prestigious invitation-only Fukuoka, but then with the addition of prize money in the mid-'80s, they started to attract such world-class talent as Ibrahim Hussein and Simon Robert Naali of Tanzania (1989-90 winner), and Gianni Poli of Italy (1988 winner).

Now, with an infusion of some 21,000 runners from Japan, Honolulu has become a truly international event with almost no trace of the local domination in the early years. In fact, with heavy crowds making the event more of a pilgrimage and a cultural experience than a race, many walk the course, and the mean men’s and women’s finishing time is now 5 hours and 50 minutes, a far cry from the 4:13 figure in 1980.

Timothy Carlson is a frequent contributor to Outside Online.