Fortunately for him, Yemane Haileselassie knows the correct way to fall.
If he did not, he might not have made it to the starting line of Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon and Start to Park 10K, along with 27,204 others.
And you can’t win what you don’t start. Haileselassie captured victory in the 26.2-mile race in his Honolulu debut, finishing in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 59 seconds.
Two days prior, the former steeplechase Olympic finalist for Eritrea slipped on a wet floor near the pool at his Waikiki hotel. But Haileselassie, 26, emerged unscathed, and less than 48 hours later he’d won in just his second time racing the marathon distance.
He fended off and outlasted Reuben Kerio of Kenya, who was third here in 2023, and 14 seconds behind Haileselassie on Sunday.
In the women’s race, Kenya’s Cynthia Limo, 34, proved that her Honolulu victory last year in her first marathon was no fluke, as she bettered her winning time of 2023 by nearly two minutes to 2:31:13.
Limo and Haileselassie each earned $25,000 for their wins. Haileselassie also gets a $1,000 bonus for breaking 2:12.
“In my mind, I’m saying Honolulu is a good place for me, ever since I got off the plane last year. … I am very grateful,” said Limo, who won last year while grieving the death two weeks prior of her manager, Owen Anderson. “This year I proved I could do it again. Next year? I don’t know.”
As expected, Sandra Tuei and Judith Korir of Kenya and Ethiopian Fantu Gelasa battled Limo for most of the race. But it was just Limo and Tuei after 21 miles, and, with a sustained charge starting with about a mile left, Limo got her repeat — the first at Honolulu since Brigid Kosgei in 2016 and ’17.
Last year’s men’s winner, Paul Lonyangata, was at the starting line. But he dropped out before the 10-kilometer mark due to an undisclosed injury.
There were plenty of other elite runners for Haileselassie to tangle with, though, including Barnabas Kiptum of Kenya and Kensuke Horio and Kei Tsuboi of Japan. Kerio tried to separate by blasting out a 4:38 11th mile.
Haileselassie maintained contact, and when the time was right, at the 30K mark, he surged past him.
“The marathon is a great test of mental strength, and physical,” said Haileselassie, as he tended to a nasty-looking blister on his right foot after his victory. “But all racing is the same.”
The steeplechase is a 3,000-meter race with hurdle-like barriers and a water obstacle to deal with each lap.
Haileselassie was among the world’s best at it, but now he has fully embraced the marathon. He debuted at the grandaddy of them, Boston, in April and turned in a time of 2:14:44 for 16th place.
“Second marathon,” said his coach, James McKirby said after Sunday’s win. “Not bad, huh?”
At age 26 or 27, Haileselassie may have a bright future ahead in the marathon. But, since he is in America as a refugee from Eritrea, he can’t leave the U.S. to compete elsewhere. It’s a long arduous and not guaranteed path to citizenship, and even to the refugee Olympic team. He must qualify for what is called an I-94 card, McCurdy said, adding that can take eight to 10 years.
The 52nd Honolulu Marathon and its ancillary events — the concurrent Start to Park 10K and Saturday’s Kalakaua Merrie Mile — attracted a record 36,122 registrations this year.
Marathon president Dr. Jim Barahal said last week that Honolulu will benefit even more from a worldwide running boom when Japan’s economy rebounds.
“We’re not done growing,” he said. “The minute the yen gets to a reasonable level the Japanese will be back in big numbers.”
MEN’S TOP 200 FINISHERS
1. Yamane Haileselassie 2:11:59
2. Reuben Kerio 2:12:16
3. Kensuke Horio 2:15:29
4. Suguru Osako 2:16:36
5. Amanuel Mesel 2:17:33
6. Yudai Fukuda 2:18:20
7. Kei Tsuboi 2:35:31
8. Ryo Tsujikawa 2:36:01
9. Blake Dunkleberger 2:36:51
10. Nikita Smyrnov 2:39:12
11. Ryo Murata 2:39:39
12. Michael Richard 2:44:24
13. Hiroya Yokooji 2:44:35
14. Jared Breaux 2:44:49
15. Takumi Shibuya 2:45:02
16. Ben Green 2:45:47
17. Robert Ashby 2:45:54
18. Patrick Renner 2:46:10
19. Ruben Solorza 2:48:10
20. Jonathan Kortman 2:48:48
21. Josh Ehinger 2:49:07
22. Jay Dela Cruz 2:49:55
23. Gregoire Marsot 2:50:22
24. David Easa 2:50:30
25. Bryson Smith 2:51:08
26. Barrett Lehardy 2:51:52
27. Gabriel Tom 2:52:09
28. Shawn Morimoto 2:52:10
29. Joshua Griffin 2:52:12
30. Kodai Nanjo 2:52:23
31. Kai Mittelsteadt 2:52:40
32. Tom Daniels 2:52:43
33. Erik Alvarez 2:52:48
34. Josh Sappington 2:53:06
35. Nathan James Carter 2:53:14
36. Phil Dumontet 2:53:34
37. Takehiko Ueda 2:54:07
38. Chris Araujo 2:54:42
39. Preston Daniels 2:54:50
40. John Penland 2:54:58
41. Kaito Hosoda 2:55:09
42. Ben Jones 2:55:29
43. Seiichi Kuroda 2:56:11
44. Cooper Edward Johnson 2:56:30
45. Dao Min (Dominic) Lin 2:56:55
46. Evan Peterson 2:57:19
47. Motoyuki Ohtake 2:57:51
48. Serge Marchenko 2:57:51
49. Yoshihiro Nishimura 2:58:06
50. Tyler Tsubota 2:58:28
51. Jordan Bongolan 2:58:32
52. Mateo Caputo 2:59:26
53. Matt Takane 2:59:29
54. Lucas Tettamente 2:59:37
55. Kevin Enriques 2:59:43
56. Shunsuke Saijo 2:59:51
57. Amura Ishida 3:02:01
58. Christopher Cooper 3:02:09
59. Edward Stanila 3:02:23
60. Ko Nishimura 3:02:54
61. Andrew Vogel 3:03:15
62. Teppei Fujita 3:03:16
63. Peter Molina 3:03:19
64. Andy Yu 3:03:22
65. Yoshiyuki Ohara 3:03:22
66. Tai Wong 3:03:30
67. Nick Yancey 3:03:33
68. Ludek Kosina 3:03:44
69. Vlad Maevskiy 3:03:56
70. Koichi Wada 3:04:30
71. George Munoz 3:05:02
72. John Badua 3:05:04
73. Kosuke Okamoto 3:05:17
74. Hiroshi Kondo 3:05:37
75. Michael Scinto 3:05:41
76. Yukihiro Kaneda 3:06:03
77. Ryosei Namba 3:06:04
78. Frederic Knecht 3:06:14
79. Nazaret Ramirez 3:06:24
80. Takumi Harigaya 3:06:44
81. Rusty Crabbe 3:06:45
82. Zachary Harrison 3:06:45
83. Keith Yurevitz 3:06:51
84. John Lynham 3:06:53
85. Kenji Tomozawa 3:07:13
86. Janek Koziol 3:07:16
87. Krzysztof Waclawek 3:07:25
88. Takashi Okada 3:07:39
89. Owen Murdock 3:07:54
90. Todd Lee 3:07:54
91. Kyle Hamrock 3:07:56
92. Soshi Koike 3:08:04
93. Connor Bootz 3:08:06
94. Sam Sobell 3:08:18
95. Stefan Cranston 3:08:22
96. Josiah Sinard 3:08:24
97. Ovi Fritsch 3:08:32
98. Misao Hosoda 3:08:33
99. Tyler Oshiro 3:08:59
100. Gwion Ap Rheinallt 3:09:15
101. Dishonkarukwa Maina 3:09:23
102. Gavin Fujitani 3:09:53
103. Jamie Dick 3:09:57
104. Trent Storm 3:10:05
105. Tomoyuki Fuse 3:10:08
106. Pedro Alvares 3:10:13
107. Bernd Bittmann 3:10:33
108. Tyler Rives 3:10:42
109. Joshua Chang 3:10:49
110. Brandon Britt 3:10:49
111. Valentine Roberts 3:10:54
112. Maxwell Armenta 3:11:15
113. Casey Smith 3:11:43
114. Alan Copeland 3:11:51
115. Dustin Balog 3:12:00
116. Shinya Yano 3:12:14
117. Alex Vonholle 3:12:20
118. Alicia Miyashiro 3:12:26
119. Michael Cacal 3:12:41
120. Richard Connaroe 3:12:45
121. Julian Lyon 3:12:54
122. Eric Greene 3:13:20
123. Darren Pucong 3:13:30
124. Korey Tsubota 3:13:46
125. Jeff Ebeck 3:13:59
126. David Miller 3:14:01
127. Yusuke Kobayashi 3:14:25
128. Atsushi Takaba 3:14:34
129. Anton Zanin 3:14:46
130. Tristan Arakaki 3:14:46
131. Maxwell Garcia 3:14:56
132. Naoki Tokumasu 3:15:05
133. Matthias Nelke 3:15:35
134. Christopher Chang 3:15:41
135. Doran Domash 3:15:46
136. Noah Jacobs 3:15:47
137. John Bohnemann 3:15:51
138. Ryoji Yogai 3:15:53
139. Grant Czartowski 3:16:06
140. Nathaniel Fairbank 3:16:39
141. Etienne Barantin 3:16:48
142. Drew Bennett 3:16:49
143. Nathan Cogswell 3:16:50
144. Stephen Darling 3:16:56
145. Christopher Kalima 3:17:00
146. Iker Yturralde 3:17:01
147. Aaron Kent 3:17:13
148. John Huntley 3:17:16
149. Yukiya Oba 3:17:21
150. Ilya Sitsko 3:17:26
151. Christophe Chipot 3:17:28
152. David Doran 3:17:37
153. Gabe Kuhn 3:17:39
154. Jantzen Hing 3:17:44
155. Delvin Monden 3:17:47
156. Brent Isono 3:17:51
157. Takayuki Ogawa 3:18:04
158. Will Buss 3:18:07
159. Roman Chavez 3:18:10
160. Nate Pierce 3:18:12
161. Nobuyuki Horita 3:18:16
162. Adam Macfarland 3:18:24
163. Marius Turulis 3:18:51
164. Jeffery Lowery 3:18:53
165. Jason Blackman 3:18:53
166. Ka’eo Jones 3:18:56
167. Paul Lloyd 3:19:00
168. Tomoki Kobayashi 3:19:02
169. Shingo Nagamine 3:19:02
170. Bryce Hurst 3:19:05
171. Kevin Holder 3:19:06
172. Matt Wood 3:19:30
173. John Hanson 3:19:40
174. Ian Wong 3:19:49
175. Takahito Ii 3:19:53
176. Joshua Boatman 3:19:53
177. Eric Morlang 3:19:58
178. Kazuki Tsuda 3:20:53
179. Samuel Cornell 3:20:54
180. Satoshi Tsubouchi 3:20:54
181. Connor Goo 3:20:55
182. Daniel Haltermann 3:21:02
183. Lyman Perry 3:21:11
184. Zoltan Harmath 3:21:14
185. Matthew Aracena 3:21:17
186. Carlos Estevez 3:21:29
187. Isao Takemasa 3:21:32
188. David Nash 3:21:40
189. Patrick Ellison 3:21:55
190. Motoki Nakamura 3:21:59
191. Austin Correa 3:22:02
192. Myeong Seong Kang 3:22:06
193. Michael Zheng 3:22:11
194. David Estes 3:22:14
195. Davis Holley 3:22:26
196. Scott Stay 3:22:28
197. Brandon Chacon 3:22:30
198. Jack Hafner 3:22:32
199. Joachim Kennedy 3:22:37
200. Ryusei Takaya 3:22:43
WOMEN’S TOP 200 FINISHERS
1. Cynthia Limo 2:31:13
2. Sandrafelis Tuei 2:31:48
3. Judith Korir 2:36:17
4. Kana Numata 2:46:41
5. Eri Suzuki 2:49:26
6. Brittany Alvarez 2:52:10
7. Akiko Kudo 2:52:50
8. Leah Fitzgerald 2:53:07
9. Anya Culling 2:53:13
10. Shelley McDonald 2:56:24
11. Erin Kunst 2:59:17
12. Kathryn Watt 3:01:52
13. Tippi Wieland 3:04:45
14. Megan Goulden 3:06:49
15. Amanda Beaman 3:07:14
16. Mary Craig 3:08:58
17. Marissa Small Towns 3:09:50
18. Megan Plocher 3:11:22
19. Alison Green 3:13:21
20. Ricki Doyle 3:13:25
21. Kazue Oka 3:15:07
22. Mieko Ochsner 3:16:08
23. Megumi Oshima-Breaux 3:16:24
24. Shay Nakahira 3:16:34
25. Claudia Donovan 3:17:01
26. Christine Bayliss 3:17:11
27. Akiko Patterson 3:18:42
28. Kristen Maxwell 3:18:55
29. Madison Foht 3:19:26
30. Jacquie Cooke 3:20:27
31. Joslin Sellers 3:21:08
32. Heather Boyne 3:21:52
33. Mary Labowsky 3:21:57
34. Chihiro Nakai 3:22:09
35. Courtney Kolberg 3:23:13
36. Athena Shapiro 3:24:00
37. Yu Hata 3:24:37
38. Carey Colbert 3:24:44
39. Erin Sakai 3:25:16
40. Deborah Reed 3:25:26
41. Tess Schaftel 3:25:53
42. Kiyomi Shimizu 3:25:54
43. Jeanette Yamashiro 3:25:57
44. Brooke Hawkins 3:26:08
45. Lynne Washio 3:26:53
46. Emma Kim 3:26:55
47. Lexi Brinker 3:27:29
48. Chihiro Kajiwara 3:28:05
49. Megan Bjeldanes 3:28:38
50. Cam Mallory 3:30:12
51. Jessica Christopher 3:30:12
52. Kristen Imada 3:30:31
53. Laci Hitchcock 3:30:38
54. Abigail Prinzo 3:30:48
55. Anna Gruesen 3:31:07
56. Jurgita Turuliene 3:31:45
57. Doeun Park 3:32:05
58. Cristina Tolosa 3:32:45
59. Emi Matsutani 3:33:27
60. Lydia Wagner 3:33:34
61. Kate Roberts 3:34:02
62. Sandra Price 3:34:27
63. Julia Ehrhorn 3:35:11
64. Chelsey Freeman 3:35:23
65. Kelly Gries 3:35:31
66. Sam Camarra 3:36:01
67. Joshua Barroga 3:36:29
68. Taylor Chock 3:36:35
69. Katharina Weckbecker-Yagob
3:37:01
70. Sheila Croft 3:37:05
71. Isabel Ortega 3:37:08
72. Riho Suzuki 3:37:10
73. Saki Shimada 3:37:14
74. Lindsay Leblanc 3:37:32
75. Macy Putman 3:38:02
76. Rei Yamamoto 3:38:07
77. Amy Hanley 3:38:09
78. Linda Hanner 3:38:29
79. Ashley Louie 3:38:34
80. Manami Miyamoto 3:38:43
81. Morgan Cukierski 3:38:45
82. Anna Mikkelsen 3:39:05
83. Mackenzie Greiner 3:39:14
84. Katie Caufield 3:39:30
85. Petra Henriksson Nousiainen 3:39:58
86. Mizuki Tanimoto 3:40:02
87. Kady Mill 3:40:36
88. Yukari Camara 3:40:38
89. Stephanie Funk 3:40:44
90. Lynne Holme (Stewart) 3:40:46
91. Zoe Ungerman 3:40:48
92. Ayako Shirato 3:40:48
93. Sarah Idemoto 3:40:58
94. Sabrina Pennington 3:41:06
95. Mikaela Blevins 3:41:10
96. Claudine Yee 3:41:16
97. Sophie Cairns 3:41:30
98. Chizuru Inoue 3:41:41
99. Diana Crudu 3:41:45
100. Leah Stickels 3:43:08
101. Olivia Carlson 3:43:17
102. Chika Kanai 3:43:18
103. Nicole Harris 3:43:32
104. Noora Viljanmaa 3:43:36
105. Rachel Pollock 3:43:43
106. Marykate Wetzel 3:43:55
107. Minaelle Green 3:44:07
108. Kei Sato 3:44:33
109. Hannah McKay 3:44:39
110. Hena Bunn 3:44:54
111. Julianna Campas 3:44:55
112. Rachel Bradley 3:45:01
113. Ariel Kang 3:45:22
114. Erina Nakai 3:45:29
115. Annie Tremblay 3:45:33
116. Elena De Martino 3:45:57
117. Sara Medina Moreno 3:46:23
118. Shinobu Sasai 3:46:30
119. Katja Bajema 3:46:30
120. Sabrina Pallazola 3:46:43
121. Juliana Biggerstaff 3:46:43
122. Laura Filla 3:47:15
123. Lory Peroff 3:47:17
124. Moeka Yamamoto 3:47:30
125. Noriko Kosaka 3:47:33
126. Katarina Olsen 3:47:40
127. Anastasiya Joyner 3:47:46
128. Sally Buck 3:47:58
129. Bri Ditzler 3:48:11
130. Sonya Lefors 3:48:12
131. Christina Patricia 3:48:13
132. Abby Wells 3:48:22
133. Quy Nguyen 3:48:33
134. Hong Weng 3:48:53
135. Judy Jin 3:49:06
136. Yuko Matai 3:49:08
137. Louise Bower 3:49:34
138. Emily Huston 3:49:40
139. Emily Garner 3:49:41
140. Emily Schmieg 3:49:53
141. Yuko Miyaki 3:49:59
142. Hannah Demler 3:50:18
143. Yassamin Issapour 3:50:20
144. Masako Nakajima 3:50:27
145. Leah Plofchan 3:50:54
146. Bridget Marvin 3:51:04
147. Linnea Kiyabu 3:51:08
148. Traci Pogue 3:51:10
149. Mary Kendrick Christiansen
3:51:10
150. Mehana Leafchild 3:51:11
151. Miyuki Munoz 3:51:11
152. Jo Irvin 3:51:12
153. Mio Kitada 3:51:27
154. Jenny Trom 3:51:30
155. Brenda Dobis 3:51:40
156. Elizabeth Bidwill 3:51:43
157. Maria Hirabayashi 3:51:53
158. Sally Marrack 3:52:11
159. Anna Foushee 3:52:15
160. Heidi Fromm 3:52:22
161. Alycia Crow 3:52:34
162. Kassidy Cowen 3:52:43
163. Mari Takahashi 3:53:01
164. Holly Coughlan 3:53:05
165. Nikki Roetman 3:53:23
166. Isabel Miranda De Sousa 3:53:33
167. M Lanie Lebeau 3:53:38
168. Mele Loyola 3:53:39
169. Sara Harper 3:53:40
170. Lauren Baar 3:53:46
171. Kim Devoe 3:54:02
172. Yuki Ando 3:54:08
173. Zola Rucker 3:54:10
174. Yuka Daimon 3:54:12
175. Chisato Hara 3:54:16
176. Michaela Swiatek 3:54:20
177. Savannah Sachdev 3:54:22
178. Jenny Tanaka 3:54:22
179. Sonja Pierson 3:54:32
180. Sarah Birtcher 3:54:36
181. Serena Liu 3:54:36
182. Naomi Shepherd 3:54:39
183. Luisa Ciuffo 3:54:46
184. Hannah Mulhern 3:54:50
185. Katherine Kim 3:54:52
186. Teresa Daly 3:54:52
187. Mara Melmer 3:55:08
188. Lauren Jordan 3:55:11
189. Caitlin Yee 3:55:12
190. Leah Chaves 3:55:13
191. Sofia Diaz 3:55:14
192. Kasumi Sato 3:55:24
193. Kari Rodgers 3:55:28
194. Lori Higashi 3:55:31
195. Cora Freeman 3:55:36
196. Hilary Freund 3:55:37
197. Celesia Smith 3:55:38
198. Jackie Mania 3:55:48
199. Mandy Melby 3:55:51
200. Kennah Parham 3:55:54
