Titus Ekiru kept peeking over his shoulder, as if expecting to find a competitor on his heels.
But each glance only affirmed his status as a soon-to-be Honolulu Marathon champion.
“When I look back, nobody followed me,” Ekiru said after pulling away from the field to win the 46th annual race.
Ekiru separated from the pack of elite runners in Hawaii Kai and wasn’t threatened over the final nine miles while making a run at the race record on a brisk Sunday morning. He broke the tape at Kapiolani Park 2 hours, 9 minutes and 1 second after the 5 a.m. start to post the second-fastest time in the event’s history.
Ekiru, 26, placed fourth last year in his Honolulu debut and took more than three minutes off his finishing time in his return despite a strong headwind that hammered the runners on the outward leg along Kalanianaole Highway.
If not for the wind, the race record might have fallen for a third straight year.
Lawrence Cherono broke a 12-year-old record in his 2016 win and lowered the mark to 2:08:27 with his repeat victory last year. Ekiru, accompanied only by the official pace vehicle and motorcycle-mounted cameramen on his return leg, had the record in sight until the last 2 miles.
“I focused on the course record when I was 30 (kilometers),” said Ekiru, who claimed the $25,000 first prize. “But when I reached 40K I did not think I could make the record.”
After crossing the finish line, finishing in a walk through the tape, Ekiru had nearly a four-minute wait before being joined by fellow Kenyan Reuben Kerio, who earned runner-up status in his first Honolulu Marathon with a time of 2:12:59.
Vincent Yator, the last runner to keep in contact with Ekiru, finished third for the second straight year at 2:15:31.
“I was trying to push, but the humidity was too high,” Yator said. “This year was not easy race, it was tough for me.
“I have to be content with the time because that is done. I will accept it but I know I can improve next year.”
Wilson Chebet, the 2014 champion, did not finish after placing second the past three years.
Ekiru earned his first win at the Sevilla Marathon last year in Spain with a personal-best 2:07:43. He ran down the Ciudad De Mexico Marathon title in 2:10:38 on Aug. 26 before taking aim at Honolulu.
“When I finished Mexico I said I wanted to come to Honolulu and I trained with focus,” Ekiru said.
Ekiru tucked in with the pack of five elite runners and designated pacesetter Charles Cheruiyot early in the race. The group thinned in the wind and by the time the leaders hit the halfway point — 1:05:03 into the race — Cheruiyot, Ekiru and Yator had surged ahead.
Cheruiyot dropped back late in the loop through Hawaii Kai, his duties complete, and Ekiru picked up the pace to break away from Yator.
“When I see we are too slow, I said let me try to push my best,” Ekiru said.
Yator couldn’t answer and the smooth-striding Ekiru stretched the lead until his pursuers were out of his vision.
While churning out sub-five-minute miles late in the race, the clock represented Ekiru’s lone competitor.
“I said let me try to push and maybe I can break the course record,” he said.
Cherono’s 2017 record — and the $10,000 bonus for breaking the mark — survived another year and stands as the only time faster than Ekiru’s Sunday surge.
Kerio, 24, served as a pacesetter last year and appeared to fade midway through the race. But he charged back to claim $10,000 for finishing second while Yator picked up $5,000.
“I’m feeling good and I’m planning for next year and start preparation for next year,” Kerio said.
MEN’S TOP 125 FINISHERS
NAME / TIME
1. Titus Ekiru 2:09:01
2. Rebn. Kipropkerio 2:12:59
3. Vincent Yator 2:15:31
4. Donn Cabral 2:19:16
5. Cy Njui 2:29:20
6. Hiroki Haruyama 2:31:33
7. Ben Williams 2:33:18
8. Syoichiro Shimizu 2:34:00
9. Yasuo Ito 2:35:31
10. Waweru Ng’ang’a 2:36:04
11. Ezekial Kemboi 2:36:31
12. Tesfaye Wosene 2:37:54
13. Justin Banks 2:39:08
14. Humberto Baeza 2:39:43
15. Kosuke Amano 2:39:54
16. Kazuki Ishii 2:40:37
17. Koji Sakimoto 2:41:39
18. Yuki Naito 2:44:55
19. Taku Harada 2:47:07
20. Aaron Anderson 2:47:11
21. Michael Peters 2:48:50
22. Soichiro Chigyo 2:49:16
23. Kodai Asayama 2:50:17
24. Hitoshi Saito 2:51:42
25. Aaron Martin 2:51:58
26. Masanori Imazawa 2:52:28
27. Yusuke Hoshino 2:52:30
28. Kazuya Matsui 2:52:42
29. Yoshih. Nishimura 2:53:41
30. Evan Weatherby 2:54:22
31. Ericwain. Wahinya 2:54:50
32. Zachary Lee 2:55:31
33. Kishu Kawai 2:55:39
34. Akihiro Kojima 2:56:18
35. Koji Kimura 2:57:16
36. Sergio Florian 2:58:37
37. Paolo Cavenaghi 2:58:41
38. James Jenkins 2:58:59
39. Tim Murphy 3:00:04
40. Heita Sugimoto 3:00:32
41. Hirofumi Abe 3:00:41
42. Timothy Ensign 3:01:09
43. Koji Tanaka 3:02:28
44. Yoshihi. Nakajima 3:02:28
45. Yoshiaki Tanaka 3:04:12
46. Hayato Date 3:04:19
47. Bill Sadler 3:04:21
48. Lyman Perry 3:04:43
49. Kengo Yoshimoto 3:05:25
50. Joseph Barcia 3:05:27
51. Masahiro Inoue 3:05:41
52. Andres Caicedo 3:06:22
53. Gerad Mead 3:06:27
54. Anthony Laglia 3:07:45
55. Joshua Munoz 3:08:07
56. Takeshi Yamada 3:08:23
57. Wookie Kim 3:08:41
58. And. Medendorp 3:09:02
59. David Creamer 3:09:29
60. Kentaro Onishi 3:09:46
61. Takashi Kuroki 3:10:18
62. Tomoharu Chieda 3:10:27
63. Trevor Johannsen 3:10:34
64. Francisco Son 3:11:00
65. McCampb. Leslie 3:11:03
66. Curtis Jung 3:11:10
67. Karl Israelsen 3:11:28
68. Motoki Nakamura 3:11:33
69. Kazuyoshi Hadano 3:11:41
70. Minoru Yoneda 3:12:11
71. Kazuhiro Eguchi 3:12:17
72. Kazuhiro Ueshiro 3:12:42
73. Jeremy Potter 3:12:44
74. Toshiyuki Suzuki 3:13:02
75. Yoshiha. Ohshiro 3:13:21
76. Lee Suring 3:13:23
77. Ryan Saunders 3:13:24
78. Andrew McKay 3:13:25
79. Joseph Matarese 3:13:30
80. Dan. Schwippert 3:13:35
81. Valentine Roberts 3:13:47
82. Cullen Renfro 3:13:48
83. Junji Dobashi 3:13:55
84. Justin Young 3:14:00
85. Yoshihiro Chiba 3:14:18
86. Nathan Weir 3:14:21
87. Tsuguf. Matsuoka 3:14:36
88. Yoshitaka Kato 3:15:08
89. Scott Parsons 3:15:33
90. Ko Shimizu 3:15:58
91. Shion Yokoyama 3:15:58
92. Drew Sutherland 3:16:25
93. Chris Imai 3:16:29
94. Charles Spelina 3:16:50
95. Yoshinori Ono 3:16:52
96. Yasuhiro Kihara 3:16:53
97. Ian Barnard 3:17:09
98. John Melbourne 3:17:15
99. Kenichi Furuhashi 3:17:31
100. Alex Habib 3:17:32
101. Sean McGivney 3:17:32
102. Yusei Chihara 3:17:43
103. Ryo Fukumaru 3:17:56
104. Thomas Walters 3:18:07
105. Yukihide Harata 3:18:11
106. David P. Barbosa 3:18:15
107. Ben Halpern 3:18:18
108. Eric Charpentier 3:18:36
109. Shusuke Adachi 3:18:45
110. Andrew Taylor 3:18:46
111. Dan Rezentes 3:18:58
112. Akihiko Futaki 3:19:11
113. Dean Dioguardi 3:19:36
114. Tosh. Watanabe 3:19:41
115. Hiroki Korogi 3:19:49
116. Ilya Fayerman 3:19:54
117. Kevin Davies 3:19:57
118. Tucker Pearce 3:20:00
119. Dring Xiang 3:20:09
120. Chris Ayres 3:20:25
121. Mark Momerak 3:20:42
122. Jun Osanai 3:21:04
123. Hiroyuki Konta 3:21:06
124. Ray Bradbury 3:21:14
125 Oguri Takashi 3:21:26
MEN’s TOP FINISHERS BY AGE GROUP
NAME / TIME
Age 15-19
1. Waweru Ng’ang’a 2:36:04
2. Ezekial Kemboi 2:36:31
3. Kodai Asayama 2:50:17
Age 20-24
1. Soichiro Chigyo 2:49:16
2. Kazuya Matsui 2:52:42
3. Evan Weatherby 2:54:22
Age 25-29
1. Hiroki Haruyama 2:31:33
2. Humberto Baeza 2:39:43
3. Aaron Martin 2:51:58
Age 30-34
1. Cyrus Njui 2:29:20
2. Ben Williams 2:33:18
3. Syoichiro Shimizu 2:34:00
Age 35-39
1. Tesfaye Wosene 2:37:54
2. Justin Banks 2:39:08
3. Koji Sakimoto 2:41:39
NAME / TIME
Age 40-44
1. Yasuo Ito 2:35:31
2. Masanori Imazawa 2:52:28
3. Ericwainaina Wahinya 2:54:50
Age 45-49
1. Hitoshi Saito 2:51:42
2. Koji Kimura 2:57:16
3. Kengo Yoshimoto 3:05:25
Age 50-54
1. Yoshiaki Tanaka 3:04:12
2. Lyman Perry 3:04:43
3. Takashi Kuroki 3:10:18
Age 55-59
1. David Creamer 3:09:29
2. Tomoharu Chieda 3:10:27
3. Yoshiharu Ohshiro 3:13:21
Age 60-64
1. Kazuhiro Eguchi 3:12:17
2. Tsugufumi Matsuoka 3:14:36
3. Yoshinori Ono 3:16:52
NAME / TIME
Age 65-69
1. Kazuhiko Kaneda 3:26:13
2. Kenji Ishida 3:39:27
3. Pedro Urigoitia 3:47:06
Age 70-74
1. Hideo Katsube 3:52:41
2. Allan Shadbolt 3:55:46
3. Tetsuo Nakagawa 3:55:49
Age 75-79
1. Kiichi Ikai 3:59:58
2. Naoki Terada 4:16:50
3. Hideo Odagiri 4:40:41
Age 80-84
1. Robert Thompson 4:56:35
2. Issey.K. Fukushima 6:13:18
3. Rod Strodl 6:31:10
Age 85-89
1. Yasuhiro Hayashi 6:58:53
2. Chikara Abe 7:02:34
3. Yokichi Suzuki 7:30:09
WOMEN’s TOP FINISHERS BY AGE GROUP
NAME / TIME
Age 15-19
1. Mizuki Kasai 3:29:57
2. Saya Yahata 3:48:33
3. Kari Tanji 3:58:05
Age 20-24
1. Akiko Sugo 3:03:55
2. Piper McDonald 3:26:27
3. Isabella King 3:26:34
Age 25-29
1. Bethany Spector 3:12:19
2. Erin Gardiner 3:22:28
3. Breann Guzman 3:26:04
Age 30-34
1. Eri Suzuki 2:47:53
2. Polina Carlson 2:53:30
3. Eriko Yamazaki 3:07:41
Age 35-39
1. Amanda McEnroe 3:14:31
2. Lisa Cabiles 3:21:55
3. Yuko Tanimura 3:25:24
NAME / TIME
Age 40-44
1. Akiko Patterson 3:15:23
2. Mieko Ochsner 3:19:37
3. Satomi Fujii 3:24:23
Age 45-49
1. Kyoko Matsumoto 3:07:10
2. Lise Friis 3:12:30
3. Shie Yamada 3:28:38
Age 50-54
1. Emi Matsutani 3:14:36
2. Ulla Binderup Jacobsen 3:17:09
3. Hiroko Iijima 3:40:19
Age 55-59
1. Naomi Fukuda 3:30:28
2. Kaori Sugiyama 3:49:39
3. Ayako Okamoto 3:51:16
Age 60-64
1. Shizuko Takeda 3:55:57
2. Mineko Kojima 4:04:26
3. Junko Kohama 4:06:44
NAME / TIME
Age 65-69
1. Shuko Yamane 3:51:40
2. Teruyo Masuzaki 4:27:14
3. Yoshiko Kobayashi 4:28:46
Age 70-74
1. Ann Fowble 4:44:25
2. Yuko Hattori 4:54:19
3. Ursula Franke Thurau 5:08:42
Age 75-79
1. Pamela Iwata 6:24:57
2. Kathleen Saito 6:28:26
3. Machiko Itayama 6:36:09
Age 80-84
1. Gwen McFarlan 5:50:18
2. Atsuko Saito 6:45:03
3. Sachiko Suzuki 7:24:47
Age 85-89
1. Mathea Allansmith 9:16:26
