Top

Honolulu Marathon 2011

December 11, 2011 by · Comments Off on Honolulu Marathon 2011 

Honolulu Marathon 2011, Tomorrow’s 39th Honolulu Marathon here will feature it’s strongest ever field, featuring six men with sub-2:08 career best times, two of whom have broken 2:07. Moreover, the men’s elite field boasts four previous race champions, including two-time winner Patrick Ivuti and defending champion Nicholas Chelimo, both of Kenya.

“For me, the men’s race is really hard to figure out who’s going to win,” said executive race director Jon Cross in an interview. “Patrick Ivuti, who knows the course, has got to be one of the contenders.”

Ivuti, 33, who won here in 2008 and 2009, did not compete last year because of a leg injury. He told Race Results Weekly yesterday that he was “feeling fine,” a claim which is consistent with his 2:08:41 second place finish at the Vienna City Marathon last May. Ivuti, twice a silver medalist at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, has a personal best of 2:07:46 set at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2005.

Chelimo, also 33, who won here last year in 2:15:19 –the second-slowest time in the last 12 editions of the race– has run well this year. He won the Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon last April in Japan (unpressed in 2:10:24), and finished second in Eindhoven last October in 2:07:38, a personal best. Cross said that Chelimo’s slow winning time from last year was misleading.

“Last year there were slow times because it rained really hard on Friday,” Cross explained. “Luckily, it got sunny on Saturday, but it was super, super humid. That slowed everybody down.”

Bottom