The Honolulu Marathon (branded JAL Honolulu Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2km) in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was first held on December 16, 1973, and it typically takes places on the second Sunday in December.[3] The marathon is popular for its tropical location in Hawaii, and is also popular among first-time marathoners, many of whom are visitors from Japan. Japan Air Lines has been the title sponsor of the race since 1985.
About 20,000 runners finish the Honolulu Marathon each year, and it is one of the five largest marathons in the United States.[4] Entry to the Honolulu Marathon is open to anyone, and there is neither a lottery nor a set of qualifying times. There is also no time limit to finish the course. From 1973 to 2006, more than 585,000 runners have started the Honolulu Marathon, with over 482,000 finishers, for a finishing rate of over 82%.[5]
History
Honolulu Marathon 2006
The race was first organized by Former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi in 1973, taking an interest in organizing the race after observing the Boston Marathon and the positive impact that came with the race.[citation needed]
During its formative period (1973–1978) the Honolulu Marathon doubled in size every year—a rate that has been equaled only once.[6][7]
At the forefront of the growth of the Honolulu Marathon was cardiologist Jack Scaff, one of the first physicians to prescribe running as therapy for heart disease. In 1977, Sports Illustrated's senior writer and Olympic marathoner Kenny Moore wrote a feature story about the race. Moore postured that, like the growth of long-distance running itself, the race's success came about not simply from an interest in competition, but from a quest for personal longevity and an enhanced quality of life. That article was soon followed by the book The Honolulu Marathon, by journalist Mark Hazard Osmun; the book was a revelatory chronicle of the then-unfolding social craze coined the "Running Boom," as exemplified in the Honolulu event.
Over time, the race grew and changed, luring large corporate sponsors and paying substantial prize money to the winners. In 1995, the Honolulu Marathon enjoyed the distinction of being the world's largest marathon when it drew 34,434 entrants and had 27,022 finishers.[8]
Unique to the Honolulu Marathon among American marathons is its popularity among runners from Japan, where there are very few marathons open to all entrants. In recent years, the majority of entrants have been visitors from Japan; notably in 2008, 14,406 of the total 23,231 entries were from Japan, making up nearly 62.0 percent of the field.[9] The marathon so popular that the Honolulu Marathon Association maintains an office in Tokyo to process entries.
In 2007, race organizers switched from the ChampionChip timing system they had used since 2000 to a new system from SAI which utilized a smaller, lighter, chip implanted in a strip of paper. For a myriad of reasons that are not entirely clear (heavy rains, improper usage, failed generators), the timing devices apparently failed to accurately record the start, split and finish times of all 24,300 participants, forcing race officials to manually review finish line video tape of all 24,000+ runners in order to confirm their correct finishing times.[10] The same year, Ethiopian Ambesse Tolossa was disqualified as the men's champion because the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency found he had a banned substance in his system.[11]
Honolulu Marathon 2024 Participant near the finish line
The 2012 Honolulu Marathon was held on Sunday, December 9, 2012. The field for the 40th Honolulu Marathon reached 30,898 entries at the marathon expo at the Hawaii Convention Center. 16,067 of those registered entrants were from Japan. The 2012 marathon was the largest in 15 years, and the second largest in America of 2012, only surpassed by the Chicago Marathon.[12]
Organizers decided not to hold the 2020 in-person edition of the race on its original date in December due to the coronavirus pandemic, but reserved the option to postpone it to an alternate date in the first half of 2021.[13][14][15] All registrants were given the option of running the race virtually or transferring their entry to 2021.[13][a]
In 2022, 92-year-old Mathea Allansmith completed the Honolulu Marathon with a time of 11:19:49, earning a Guinness World Record as the oldest woman to have completed any marathon.[16]
Satellite races in Iraq and Afghanistan
The Honolulu Marathon has been popular with U.S. military personnel stationed in Hawaii.[citation needed] With many Hawaii-based troops deployed abroad, the marathon coordinated with the military to organize satellite marathon races on U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan on the same day as the main race, with finishers receiving the same T-shirts and medals. The first such race was held in 2004 at a U.S. base in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. In 2005, the marathon organized a similar race at Camp Victory in Baghdad.[17]
On Dec. 12, 2010, the 43rd Sustainment Brigade, home stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado, now deployed to Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, organized a satellite run on the base. Nearly 135 people from several different nations participated in the run.
Course
Starting near Ala Moana Beach Park across from Ala Moana Center, the course progresses west along the waterfront toward downtown Honolulu, then loops through downtown and bends back east through Waikiki, around Diamond Head, and out toward the eastern suburbs of Honolulu, winding through Hawaii Kai before doubling back toward the finish line at Waikiki's Kapiolani Park. Marathoners consider the course moderately difficult because of the tropical weather conditions, with temperatures starting at around 65°F (18°C) and rising to as high as 80°F (27°C), and a relatively hilly course compared with other marathons. Nevertheless, the race also remains a popular choice for first-time marathoners.[7]
Winners
Although the difficulty of the course precludes world-record pace performances, winners of the Honolulu Marathon have used it as a stepping stone to greater achievements. For instance, three-time winner Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya later won the Boston Marathon three times; and 1993 winner Bong-Ju Lee won the silver medal and 1995 winner Josia Thugwane won the gold medal, both in the 1996 Olympic Marathon in Atlanta.
↑ If the 2020 marathon is to be held on an alternate date, this would result in the possibility of both the 2020 and 2021 Honolulu Marathons being held in 2021, and registrants who did not run the race virtually would have the option of transferring their entry to either the (postponed) 2020 marathon, or the 2021 marathon.[13]
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