Honolulu Marathon 2009 Results: a unique experience

As per Wikipedia, the Honolulu Marathon is world’s sixth largest marathon. A unique feature of this marathon is the craze amongst the Japanese runners to take part in this race, with Japan contributing to a majority of runners, pretty unique for a marathon in a country having a majority of runners from another country. In 2008, Japan contributed to 62 percent of the field. This year too saw about 60 percent Japanese runners.

Japan is closely associated with this race, in fact the Naha city in Japan (which hosts one of the largest marathons in Japan) and Honolulu marathon have been declared as Sister City marathon races, looks like a cultural influence which spans beyond the boundaries of a nation.

Kenya’s Patrick Ivuti won his second straight men’s title today with a time of 2:12:14. Russia’s Svetlana Zakharova took the women’s title for the third time, finishing in 2:28:34. Complete results for all participants are available online on the official website.

Below are the results from the 2009 race. About 24,000 runners took part in the 37th edition of the race:

Mens Results

1 Patrick Ivuti KEN 2:12:14
2 Nicholas Chelimo KEN 2:13:10
3 William Chebon KEN 2:14:59
4 Jimmy Mwangangi M KEN 2:17:17
5 Gilbert Chepkwony KEN 2:18:48
6 Brandon Laan USA 2:25:41
7 Satoshi Kato JPN 2:25:56
8 Samuel Mwangi Gic KEN 2:27:36
9 Jospeh Nganga Mar KEN 2:27:56
10 Yasukazu Miyazato JPN 2:28:34

Womens Results

1 Svetlana Zakharov RUS 2:28:34
2 Kiyoko Shimahara JPN 2:29:53
3 Pamela Chepchumbra KEN 2:32:41
4 Kaori Yoshida JPN 2:35:46
5 Eri Hayakawa JPN 2:44:33
6 Satoko Uetani JPN 2:45:19
7 Akemi Ozaki JPN 2:48:24
8 Mina Ogawa JPN 2:50:20
9 Kozue Saito JPN 2:51:26
10 Amy Wilson USA 2:57:05