The pack mentality was to help Jonathan Lyau join an exclusive group.
The 57-year-old Honolulu resident was aiming to complete a sub three-hour marathon in five separate decades. About 40 runners worldwide have achieved that feat, and Lyau finished just short in 3 hours, 3 minutes, 19 seconds.
About 10 runners ran with him to set the pace, block the wind, anything to help the man who has coached generations of local runners of all levels. He was on pace, hitting 1:30:11 at the half-marathon mark.
“Having a pack to run with going out helped tremendously against the wind,” said Lyau, who was 20th in the men’s field. “We were on pace, we were talking to each other. We made the turn (in Hawaii Kai), the pack kind of broke up. Couple guys stayed with me as long as they could before they started cramping. I appreciate that.”
Lyau began to close the gap between him and Bree Wee, one of the runners from the pack, on Kalanianaole Highway. But he knew it was over by mile 22 in Kahala.
“It was mostly about Jonathan,” said Wee, the fourth female finisher. “We tried to take turns pulling the headwind, pacing, calling each other. It was very special working for that.”
Lyau, the top local finisher in 17 Honolulu Marathons, thinks he can still achieve the feat at a mainland race. But he was hoping to accomplish the goal in his 32nd Honolulu Marathon.
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“I had a pretty great pack to run with,” said Lyau. “The guys were there helping me out. I have no complaints. I still felt I had a chance that I could hold it together. But the marathon is so unpredictable. It’s a one-shot deal so I had to make the best of it and focus and keep it together.”
Wee said Lyau inspired her to give back to the next generation. She brought over several first-time marathoners from the Big Island.
“Goals are really challenging,” Wee said. “You risk making them or not. He set the stage and bar for all of us and he brought together a really fun crew. It made the day a lot more special.”
Barnett places third in Honolulu debut
Compared to some of his previous races, Billy Barnett had a relatively quick morning in his first Honolulu Marathon.
But shorter doesn’t mean easier.
Barnett, a sixth-grade teacher at Waiakea Intermediate School in Hilo, enjoys ultra marathons and ran the Go Big 50K in April. He’d competed in the Hilo and Kona marathons in the past, decided to enter the Honolulu race for the first time this year and ended up placing third overall.
“It’s harder because you have to go at a harder pace the whole time,” Barnett said in comparing a marathon with ultra marathons.
Barnett kept pace with fellow Big Island runner John Benner for much of Sunday’s race and finished in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 48 seconds, giving him quite an experience to share with his students when he returns to school.
“I have an 8-month-old, so it’s been about keeping everything in balance,” Barnett said. “I had a goal just to have fun.”
Full schedules for kamaaina finishers
The top kamaaina finishers trained in between busy schedules.
Gabriel Tom, 20, runs at 3 a.m. before a long day on set as a production assistant for CBS series “Magnum P.I.” Amanda Beaman, in her first year at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, also runs early in the day.
“It’s all about time management, just making sure you can regiment your day in a way that you don’t lose performance on the training aspect (and) still do your job well on the back end,” said Tom, 12th in the men’s division in 2:55:39. He also ran Saturday’s Kalakaua Merrie Mile and the previous week at the Xterra Championships.
Beaman, 23, was 20th in the women’s division in 3:30:50.
“I don’t have time to run twice a day. A lot of coach (Lyau’s) runners do that,” said Beaman, the 2015 state cross country champion at ‘Iolani. “I don’t have time anymore. I feel that kind of held me back a bit today.”
Byers, Stein win wheelchair races
Tyler Byers and Chelsea Stein were the top finishers in the wheelchair division. Byers, a Washington resident, topped the men’s field in 1:42:57. Stein won her first marathon in 2:33:00.
“I just had to keep my mind positive to push past through the last few miles. Those were really tough,” said Stein, one of three members of the University of Arizona’s adaptive sports program that raced on Sunday.
Christine Greer (2:53:34) and Garrett Kuwada (3:13:12) were the top Hawaii finishers.
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 6:07:26. Dill, of Honolulu, finished in 8:19:32.
