Cowman Ah Moo Ha was already deeply committed to the sport of running when he learned about the Great Aloha Run in 1985. Born and raised near Lake Tahoe, he ran marathons and mountain trail races. He’d heard about the Ironman Triathlon while he was visiting college friends on Oahu in 1979 and did one on a whim. He returned a year later and did another.

A Great Aloha Run? He liked the sound of it.

“Great Aloha. Aloha Run. It always intrigued me because the state of Hawaii is the Aloha State. It was a natural for me. I said ‘I gotta do this,’ and I had so much fun,” he said Jan. 30, speaking from his home in Kona, where he has lived since 1981.

The 38th annual Hawaii Pacific Health Virtual Great Aloha Run will take place Feb. 18 to 21.

Cowman — instantly recognizable by the large horned helmet that is part of his Aloha Run attire — has run in all of them.

“If I enjoy a race I keep doing it, so I kept showing up, because to me it’s something you discover, like a gold mine,” explained Cowman, who goes by the name of Ken Shirk when he’s sans horns. “The people give me a lot of energy back for my helmet every time. That is my identity. Cowman is the guy who wears the buffalo horns on his head. I love to bring my energy and the character known as Cowman every year. And as long as it’s virtual, I’ll keep doing it virtual to keep my string going.”

The Great Aloha Run was founded in 1985 by Carole Kai, Honolulu Marathon founder Dr. Jack Scaff and Buck Buchwach, former editor-in-chief of the Honolulu Advertiser, as a companion fundraiser to Kai’s successful charity event, the Carole Kai Bed Race.

The Bed Race, launched in 1974 and held annually until 1994, required would-be participants to organize teams and acquire a wheeled bed to push.

Kai thanks Buchwach for suggesting the Great Aloha Run name.

“He said, ‘I always wanted to do an Aloha Run. A run from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium would be a great Aloha run,’ and that’s how it began,” Kai said during a conference call with Great Aloha Run administrator and event coordinator Claire Nakamura Rochon. “We wanted it to be an ongoing event, but we’re very blessed that this is going to be our 38th year.”

To date, the Great Aloha Run has raised $15.5 million, shared among more than 150 Hawaii nonprofit organizations and school programs.

For its first 36 years, the Great Aloha Run was a conventional 8.15-mile run/walk event from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium. Last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it went virtual. This year is a hana hou. Prior to the pandemic, the run generally drew about 18,000 participants annually; last year, about 8,000 completed the race virtually.

“We thank all of our virtual participants for supporting us despite the challenges of COVID,” Rochon said. “Our participants have four days, from Feb. 18 to 21, to complete the 8.15-mile course. They can run, walk, do it on a treadmill, go to the gym, the park or in their neighborhood, wherever they feel comfortable and safe.

“They will have the opportunity to track their progress, it’s all on the honor system, and we will ship everyone a finisher shirt and medal that honors our long-standing partnership, and final year, with the Aloha Stadium until the new facility is built,” she said. “You’re going to see the stadium on the medal as well as on our finishers’ shirt.”

The end of the relationship with Aloha Stadium as it now exists is making this year’s run a special one for Maresa-Ann Soares. Although Soares did her first Great Aloha Run in 2010, this year, for the first time, her husband, Jayson Soares, and their four children, ages 5 to 16, are joining her.

“I got into the Great Aloha Run for the first time because I enjoyed running, and I wanted to train daily to pace myself for the run,” Soares said in an email. “The 2010 Great Aloha Run is what also opened me up to signing up for more runs, half marathons, and obstacle runs on the island throughout the years because of the feeling it gave me, the feeling of accomplishment from finishing what I was training for, and the community of people all doing the same thing and having fun doing it.

“(This year), even though the run will be virtual, my husband and I wanted our kids to experience and participate in the run before the possible reconstruction or demolition of the Aloha Stadium later this year. Also, this year’s finishers’ medal will be memorabilia that our whole family will cherish and can be shared with generations to come.”

The virtual run has an upside for the family, she explained. Running and walking more than 8 miles over a couple of days is a more realistic goal for their 5-year-old.

Family participation is also important for 92-year-old Masuo Kino of Kaneohe, the oldest person who has completed the course every year since its inception.

“In my 50s I got into jogging and running short races, so when the Great Aloha Run came along I convinced my friend to go do it, and I’ve been doing it ever since. It has been a great experience to be a participant all these years,” Kino said. “The first few years I was able to run a mile in less than 10 minutes, which was relatively fast for me — I’d say that was a highlight.

“When my jogging partner of 20 years died, the following year I ran all by myself,” he said. “That was a ‘lowlight’ — and it stayed like that for while.”

Things picked up for Kino about five years ago when he found a new walking partner, his granddaughter, Lorie Okada.

“That makes it kind of nice and complete,” he said. “This year it’s virtual, so we’re doing it in Kaneohe. Kaneohe is beautiful.”

An essential part of the event’s success are the volunteers who turn out in support each year. One of the longest serving is Neal Takamori, whose association with Carole Kai Charities goes back to the Bed Race days.

“When I started with the Bed Race, it was to help (Carole) and to help the community,” said Takamori, McKinley High School’s athletic director and president of the school’s foundation. “When we started the Great Aloha Run, I thought it would be a good way to get our athletes involved. The kids love to give back. I’m glad to see that, and I’m glad we got the athletic department involved.”

In the early years, the McKinley athletes handed out water at the aid stations. In recent years, they manned the starting line. (McKinley High School and its athletics department are among the many schools and nonprofits that are beneficiaries of the Great Aloha Run.)

“We’d tell them that this is a charitable event and our mission is to help (the participants) enjoy the starting line and enjoy the run,” Takamori said. “But with COVID we haven’t had starting line.”

Kai and Rochon invite preregistered race participants on Oahu to sign up for what they’re calling a “drive-thru experience” from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 21 at the stadium.

“We are creating a mini 8.15-mile course to include a start and finish line, entertainment and our awesome volunteers cheering everyone on,” Rochon said. “The highlight will be having the cars drive onto the stadium floor this one final time as we bid a hui hou to Aloha Stadium. This is not a goodbye because we will be back once the new facility is completed.”

And until then, they promise, the Great Aloha Run will continue. Stay tuned.

—

Ready to run

38th annual Hawaii Pacific Health Virtual Great Aloha Run

>> Where: Anywhere, it’s virtual.

>> When: Feb. 18-21

>> Info: To register or ­volunteer, go to ­greataloharun.com.

>> Note: The drive-thru experience at Aloha Stadium is 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 21, by preregistration only.