Tolosa repeats as Honolulu Marathon Champ

Ambesse Tolossa of Ethiopia won the Honolulu Marathon for the second consecutive year on Sunday, with a relatively slow time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 26 seconds. His winning time last year was 2:13:42. Five-time winner Jimmy Muindi of Kenya was second for the second consecutive year, finishing almost a minute and a half behind Tolossa. His time was 2:18:53. Alvetina Biktimirova of Russia was the women's winner with a time of 2:33:07. Tolossa said he was happy to win again, and said, "Now Honolulu is my home.'' He and Muindi were part of a pack of six runners that set a fast pace for the first nine miles, with an average pace of less than five minutes. After the pace slowed, the pack was reduced to Tolosa, Muindi, Lawrence Kiptoo Saina of Kenya and pacesetter Boniface Mbuvi Muema of Kenya. After the 18-mile mark on the Kalanianaole Highway return, Saina dropped back and Muema followed a short time later. While Tolossa and Muindi were expected to make a move on the return, that never materialized and the two were running an average pace of about 5 minutes and 20 seconds. Muindi was expected to kick in on the Diamond Head hill, but it was Tolossa who made the move and opened a wide lead. Muindi said after the race that he vomited at the start of the hill as Tolossa made his move. He said he was feeling stomach distress during the second half of the race, and was unable to make a move. "Every time I tried to take on water, I felt like vomiting,'' he said. "My legs were strong but my stomach was not.'' It was Muindi's 14th consecutive Honolulu race. Biktimirova ran with the lead women's pack but moved out front around the 15-mile mark. Akemi Ishige Ozaki caught up a couple miles later, but the Russian woman took the lead for good around 22 miles. Biktimirova said that after the 30-kilometer mark, she felt she would win. "I felt good during the race, but humidity was the main problem,'' she said. Heavy showers fell briefly shortly before the 5 a.m. start and again about 10 minutes into the race. But the rain stopped early in the race, and the runners had mostly ideal conditions – no wind and cool temperatures.

1  Ambesse TOLOSA              ETH  2:17:26
2  Jimmy MUINDI                KEN  2:18:53
3  Eric MZIOKI                 KEN  2:21:32
4  Boniface MBUVI              KEN  2:22:59
5  Aleksei ALEKSANDROV         RUS  2:24:36
6  Katsutoshi SAIJO            JPN  2:29:59
7  Satoru HORI                 JPN  2:30:13
8  Atsushi ITO                 JPN  2:31:01
9  Masakazu TAKAHASHI          JPN  2:33:15
10 Tetsuro KATAOKA             JPN  2:33:17

WOMEN:
1  Alevtina BIKTIMIROVA        RUS  2:33:06
2  Akemi-Isige OZAKI           JPN  2:34:21
3  Tatiana PETROVA             RUS  2:35:55
4  Kaori YOSHIDA               JPN  2:43:20
5  Mina OGAWA                  JPN  2:47:31
6  Lisa MIZUTANI               JPN  2:50:53
7  Maiko KAWANO                JPN  2:54:30
8  Yukiko MAKIHARA             JPN  2:58:10
9  Keiko TANAKA                JPN  3:01:15
10 Bree WEE                    JPN  3:03:21