Benson Masya of Kenya, taking advantage of a a tailwind, pulled away from the pack and won his third Honolulu Marathon Sunday.
His time was 2 hours, 15 minutes, 4 seconds.Carla Beurskens of Holland won her eighth Honolulu women's title at the age of 42 with a time of 2:37:06, well off her record pace of 2:31:01 in 1986.
"I just wanted to stay with the front group and finish in the top three," said the 24-year-old Masya, who won 11 of the 13 major sub-marathon races he entered in the last six months.
He stayed with a pack that trailed by as much as 100 yards a group of three or four leaders who bucked the strong headwinds. The pack began narrowing the gap heading into the Hawaii Kai turn-around loop near the 15-mile mark.
Masya took the lead just before the 18-mile mark, passing Joseph Skosana of South Africa, and then began moving ahead.
Skosana, who finished 10th, said he was mot feeling well when Masya passed him, and decided to not to try tokeep up.
Andrea Moa of Tanzania and Josphat Ndeti of Kenya, running side-by-side, reached the halfway point in 1:08:45, and Benedict Ako of Tanzania and Skosana quickly made it a foursome.
Ndeti dropped out around the 15-mile mark, and Skosana broke away into the lead. But the pack closed in during the turn-around loop, and Skosana's led had narrowed considerably when the runners began their return with the wind at their backs.
"I saw the very slow first half and had the confidence that I could catch the leaders," said Maysa, who won the Honolulu race in 1991 and 1992. He was eighth last year.
Buerskens took an early lead but Eriko Asai of Japan was right behind her until the 18-mile mark, when Beurskens began opening a 200-yard lead. After a brief "pit sop" at mile 20, Buerskin's lead had shrunk to 25 yards.
"Eriko pushed me, let me set the pace and never tried to take the lead," Buerskens said.
"Coming out of the loop, I tried to pick up the pace and saw she was having problems," said Buerskens. " After the pit stop, I tried to pick up the pace again so that I could win.'
Thabiso Moghali of Lesotho was second in 2;16:52; followed by Andrew Green of England, 2;16:55; Jimmy Muindi, Kenya, 2:17:54; Mbarak Hussein, Kenya, 2:18:34; Ako, 2:18:36; Myung-Hak Cho, Korea, 2:18:38; Jackson Kabiga, Kenya, 2:20:23, Skosana, 2:20:49; and Sun-Chon Lee, Korea, 2:20:52.
Asai finshed second among the women in 2:38:21, followed by Lisa Weidenbach of Hutchinson, Kansas, 2:42:44; Amy Legacki of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2:46:38; and Laura Fogli, Italy, 2:48:10.
A total of 32,768 people registered for the race, nearly two-thirds of them from Japan.