Men's Champion, Patrick Ivuti pulled away just before the 17-mile mark and won the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday, his first complete marathon since winning in Chicago in 2007. His time was two hours, 14 minutes and 35 seconds, more than three minutes ahead of Stephen Kinyanjui, a ranger with the Kenyan Wildlife Service.who finished in 2:17:41.

Rains, often heavy, fell during most of the race, but winds were light.

Ivuti withdrew from the San Diego Marathon this year and was unable to defend his Chicago title because of an injury. For this reason, he said, the Honolulu victory was important to him.

He ran with a pack of about nine runners in the early part of the race, but he and pacesetter Samuel Mwangi pulled away at the halfway point. Ivuti said he encouraged Mwangi to pick up the pace, but Mwangi dropped back just before the 17-mile marker. Ivuti then was running alone with no one close behind.

He said the second half of the race was harder, when rains were heavier. His pace slowed during the second half, when he wasn't being pushed and the rain and flooded roads made his shoes heavier. Ivuti said the Honolulu race was more difficult than Chicago, where he finished in 2:11:11 in 2007 and 2:07:46 in 2005.

Kenyans finished in six of the top 10 places. Following Ivuti and Kinyanjui were Pius Muasa-Mutuku, 2:17:51; Joseph Mutiso-Wambua, 2:19:38; and defending champion and six-time winner Jimmy Muindi, 2:21:43.

It was the first time since Muindi started running in Honolulu in 1994 that he finished lower than fourth. He set the course record of 2:11:12 in 2004. Andrew Letherby of Australia, a late addition to the race, finished in 2:25:32, followed by Koichi Fujino of Japan, 2:27:56; Mwangi, 2:28:09; Shuichi Ito, Japan, 2:29:55; Hailu Nigussie, Ethiopia, 2:30:32.




Women's Winner, Kiyoko Shimahara of Japan pulled away from Kenya's Alice Timbilili near the 30- kilometer mark and won the Honolulu Marathon women's title on Sunday on her first try. Her time was 2:32:36.

Kaori Yoshida, the women's pacesetter and a member of the same running club in Tokyo as Shimahara, passed Timbilili on the Diamond Head hill near the end of the race and finished second in 2:34:35. Timbilili was third in 2:37:31.

Shimahara was only the second Japanese male or female to win a Honolulu title in the 36 years of the race, despite the fact that most of the race's major sponsors are Japanese companies and in recent years about 60 percent of the runners have been from Japan. Eri Hayakawa won the women's race in 2003.

This was Shimahara's first major marathon victory, after place third at Chicago in October and 5th in Boston.

Shimahara said she was able to catch up with Timbilili, who had a sizeable lead early in the race, around the 22-mile mark. She said she made her move a short time later because she didn't want to challenge Timbilili on the downhill near the end of the race.

She said she was happy with her victory because she understands the history of the Honolulu Marathon. She said Japanese runners still heading out cheered her on in the latter part of her run.

In addition to it being her first race in Honolulu, Shimahara said it also was her first time to run a marathon in the dark and the first time to run in the rain. Rains started falling shortly after the 5 a.m. start of the race in the morning darkness.

Yoshida, who was fourth in Honolulu last year, said it was her goal to be a good pacesetter and to help Shimahara win.

Others in the women's top 10 were 2005 winner Olesya Nurgalieva of Russia, 2:39:13; defending champion Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia, 2:45:06; Elena Nurgalieva, Olesya's twin, 2:48:15; Sayaka Maeda, Japan, 2:54:55; Megumi Oshima, Japan, 2:57:44; Yumiko Daigo, Japan, 3:01:03; Takako Oi, Japan, 3:04:00.

MyMarathonDVD is the Official DVD-Video of the Honolulu Marathon.

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