Lahaina Intermediate School teacher Nate Kahaiali‘i told his sixth graders he’s running the Honolulu Marathon for them and the community.

Kahaiali‘i finished the race in 4 hours, 38 minutes, 35 seconds while wearing a special red T-shirt he designed to raise funds for families affected by the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfires. The front says “Lahaina Strong” and “Malama Maui” and the back design lists the four Lahaina public schools affected by the fires: Lahainaluna High, Lahaina Intermediate, Princess Nahi‘ena‘ena Elementary and King Kameha­meha III Elementary.

“They’re pretty excited, very supportive,” said Kahaiali‘i, who attended three of those schools. “They’re like ‘Are you going to win?’ ‘No, that’s the elite runners. I’ll finish. That’s the goal.’ They’re pretty excited, so I’ll share this with them tomorrow.”

Kahaiali‘i, who lost his Wahikuli home in the wildfires, sported the shirt at October’s Chicago Marathon and received words of encouragement from spectators on the course. The same happened during Sunday’s marathon, and he hopes to raise the same awareness at March’s Tokyo Marathon. He doesn’t want people to forget about Lahaina, and that the community still needs help.

“Especially at the water stations, they see the island of Maui and see ‘Lahaina Strong,’ they cheer ‘Lahaina Strong,’ ‘Go Maui.’ I love it,” Kahaiali‘i said.

Kahaiali‘i, who ran his first marathon in 2022, shares his running journey with his health students.

“I tell them the importance of fitness,” said Kahaiali‘i. “Running a marathon is something I never did until a year ago, and it’s a goal I worked toward, and it’s a goal I tried to accomplish.”

Morgan a surprise pacer

Based on his goal time, Jeremy Morgan figured he’d be on pace with the elite female runners. Not only did the Kaneohe resident run with them, he led their pack of three through most of the race.

“Once I got up there with them, I sat with them for 19, 20 miles. That was awesome,” said Morgan, the top male resident finisher with a time of 2:37:43. “It was really cool getting to run with some of the top females in the world.”

Morgan, the ninth male finisher, was hoping to tuck in behind them, but the three women had no interest in leading. By drafting behind him, Morgan took the brunt of the headwinds blowing at them throughout Kalanianaole Highway.

“I would slow down a little bit hoping to get behind them but they slowed down with me,” said Morgan, who ran at Wisconsin-Whitewater, graduated from there in 2019 and moved to Hawaii in 2022. “It just kind of happened. I think it hurt me the last 6 miles. I was hurting between 14 to 20 or so. But it was really cool experience getting to do that. I think that’s something I’m going to remember the rest of my career.”

Reynolds top female resident

Emily Reynolds of Kaneohe was the first resident woman, finishing in 3:11.34.

This marathon was easier for Reynolds than the first time she ran 26.2 miles. That was the final chapter of the Ironman Triathlon, after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 more.

“It was different … just different,” Reynolds said of doing a marathon without swimming and biking first.

Perfect attendance

Jerold Chun and Gary Dill continued their streak of completing every Honolulu Marathon since the race began in 1973. Chun, a California resident, finished in 6:14:03. Dill, of Honolulu, finished in 8:44:45.

Soejima, Tsuchida add to titles

Masazumi Soejima and Wakako Tsuchida were the first place male and female wheelchair finishers. Soejima crossed the finish line in 1:38:46 for his 14th title and Tsuchida did it in 2:03:00 for her 12th title.

Tanaka 2-fer

Japan’s top women’s long-distance runner had a strong showing in Saturday’s Kalakaua Merrie Mile and then pulled double duty.

Olympian Nozomi Tanaka was one of the invited elite runners for the mile, and finished second among the women at 4:29.

One of many people who participated in multiple events, she also ran the Start to Park 10K on Sunday.