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Vivian Jerono Kiplagat fought off the competition early, then fought off a strong headwind to win the Honolulu Marathon.
The 27-year-old Kenyan won Sunday’s 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 22 seconds. Kiplagat broke away from the women’s field early in the race and then tucked herself behind an entourage of male runners the rest of the way, using them to block strong headwinds.
Kenya’s Sheila Jerotich was second in 2:42:09 and Japan’s Eri Suzuki was third in 2:47:53. Kaneohe’s Polina Carlson, a former Hawaii Pacific runner, placed fourth in 2:53:30.
“I’m happy,” Kiplagat said of her second marathon victory since September. She also won two half marathons in 2018.
The winds slowed the runners considerably. Kiplagat’s winning time was 14 minutes off last year’s record of 2:22:15 set by Brigid Kosgei. Only four other champions have gone over 2:36 since 1990.
“It was slow” said Kiplagat, who earned $25,000 for her win.
Kiplagat ran with Jerotich and Joyce Chepkiuri, the 2014 and ’15 champion, and several men early in the 26.2-mile race. Kiplagat and Chepkirui opened a five-second lead on Jerotich after six miles. Jerotich was nowhere to be seen on the climb up Diamond Head, where a strong headwind settled in and Kiplagat opened a lead on Chepkirui.
“Slows us down,” Jerotich said of the wind. She earned $10,000 for her finish.
The five-second gap on Chepkirui gradually grew as they climbed Diamond Head Road. By mile 10, 150 meters separated Chepkirui from the pack Kiplagat was in. Chepkirui didn’t finish the race.
Kiplagat ran the rest of the marathon with a male entourage that included official pacer Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya, who ran in front of Kiplagat to block the wind. Waweru Ng’ang’a of Japan also stuck with Kiplagat the entire way, maintaining the pace and also blocking the headwind. Honolulu’s Ryan Tsang stuck with the pack until mile 13.
“He made (me) faster,” Kiplagat said of her pacers. “He run faster.”
Running into Hawaii Kai, Kiplagat glanced over her shoulder during turns on the course. No other female could be seen. Kiplagat remained with her male pacers the rest of the course. Ng’ang’a finished 10th in 2:36:04 and Kemboi, who was supposed to pace the women’s field until the 30-kilometer mark, was 11th in 2:36:31.
In her seventh appearance here, Suzuki earned $5,000 for her third-place finish. She said her strength was knowing the course inside and out. Unlike the Kenyans ahead of her, Suzuki isn’t a professional runner and trains on her own after her job for a gymnastics association.
“Someone told me when I was running I was the number one for Japanese runners,” Suzuki said through a translator. “And then my acquaintance on the road said you’re fourth place and just one more person and you’ll be the third. At 40 kilometer, I passed an elite runner. I had never expected I would finish in third place in the Honolulu Marathon. I’m very surprised but very happy.”
Carlson, who ran most of the race solo, had her best finish in Honolulu.
“It was hard to stay focused and not start dropping the pace,” said of running solo. “I tried to focus on the person in front of me, to catch up to them.”
She was encouraged by the support she received along the course from spectators and volunteers, and said many of them called out her name as she ran by.
“On the way back (from Hawaii Kai), it was such a pleasure to run because the wind was on my back,” said Carlson, the runner-up at the Xterra 21K Trail Run World Championship on Dec. 2. “And I just felt it was so easy and effortless. It was a lot of fun.”
WOMEN’S TOP 125 FINISHERS
NAME / TIME
1. Vivian Jer. Kiplagat 2:36:22
2. Sheila Jerotich 2:42:09
3. Eri Suzuki 2:47:53
4. Polina Carlson 2:53:30
5. Akiko Sugo 3:03:55
6. Kyoko Matsumoto 3:07:10
7. Eriko Yamazaki 3:07:41
8. Bethany Spector 3:12:19
9. Lise Friis 3:12:30
10. Amanda McEnroe 3:14:31
11. Emi Matsutani 3:14:36
12. Akiko Patterson 3:15:23
13. Yurie Naito 3:16:49
14. Ulla B. Jacobsen 3:17:09
15. Mieko Ochsner 3:19:37
16. Chihiro Kajiwara 3:21:36
17. Lisa Cabiles 3:21:55
18. Erin Gardiner 3:22:28
19. Kimberly Shenk 3:23:54
20. Satomi Fujii 3:24:23
21. Yuko Tanimura 3:25:24
22. Linnley Sweeney 3:25:29
23. Breann Guzman 3:26:04
24. Piper McDonald 3:26:27
25. Isabella King 3:26:34
26. Erina Nakai 3:28:29
27. Shie Yamada 3:28:38
28. Chihiro Nakai 3:29:08
29. Chizuru Inoue 3:29:41
30. Mizuki Kasai 3:29:57
31. Naomi Fukuda 3:30:28
32. Noelle Stanley 3:30:53
33. Lori Nishida 3:31:15
34. Keiko Igarashi 3:31:32
35. Barbara Bole 3:31:38
36. Zoe Hawkins 3:31:38
37. Katie Koenig 3:31:54
38. Kelsey O’Connor 3:32:32
39. Kasumi Sato 3:33:06
40. Stephanie Aguirre 3:33:37
41. Hinna Malik 3:33:43
42. Jen Engeberg 3:34:09
43. Yuko Matai 3:34:55
44. Anna Duggan 3:34:57
45. Sam. Vanwechel 3:35:10
46. Gillian Wood 3:35:15
47. Yiwen Gu 3:35:25
48. Susie Stephen 3:36:37
49. Yuki Nakamura 3:37:21
50. Anna Williams 3:37:33
51. Saaya Kusumoto 3:39:09
52. Asami Chikage 3:39:20
53. Kimberl. Sweeney 3:39:21
54. Christine Davis 3:39:21
55. Nicole Loenneker 3:39:28
56. Noe McMahon 3:39:33
57. Kazue Abe 3:39:41
58. Hiroko Iijima 3:40:19
59. Kayoko Kimitsuka 3:40:20
60. Grace Andrews 3:40:38
61. Satomi Fujimura 3:40:42
62. Kathryn Taylor 3:40:54
63. Sally Marrack 3:41:18
64. Jessica Kottkamp 3:41:20
65. Rebecca Yasutake 3:41:28
66. Emily Kiaha 3:41:47
67. Yanying Li 3:41:54
68. Mayumi Tsujii 3:42:02
69. Linda Jaffe 3:43:48
70. Solange Saxby 3:44:02
71. Jo Anna Syverson 3:44:13
72. Erika Ruppelius 3:44:16
73. Simone Aisiks 3:44:37
74. Crystal De Alba 3:44:38
75. Chiaki Orito 3:44:41
76. Christina Torres 3:45:27
77. Kiyomi Shimizu 3:45:48
78. Karin Yoshida 3:45:59
79. Kirsten Walsh 3:46:01
80. Yuri Higashi 3:46:01
81. Lindsay Kotterman 3:46:13
82. Saki Arioka 3:46:30
83. Natsumi Yazaki 3:46:30
84. Alison Finnegan 3:46:39
85. Shoko Kimura 3:46:43
86. Marissa Kunsch 3:46:46
87. Yasuko Sato 3:46:47
88. Tomoko Takarada 3:46:47
89. Akiko Kogure 3:46:48
90. Kimberly Carcich 3:46:51
91. Mai Akasaka 3:47:15
92. Makiko Fujimoto 3:47:36
93. Yoko Yamazawa 3:47:48
94. Hiromi Yamada 3:47:52
95. Taeko Okazaki 3:47:55
96. Tamara Ryan 3:48:10
97. Catherine Megias 3:48:15
98. Erin Sakai 3:48:18
99. Saya Yahata 3:48:33
100. Ellie Cole 3:48:35
101. Mie Sawada 3:48:36
102. Lucia Kerr 3:48:37
103. Kaori Kenjo 3:48:40
104. Yuki Fukasawa 3:48:42
105. Atsuko Sekido 3:48:59
106. S. Loving Urabe 3:49:27
107. Kaori Sugiyama 3:49:39
108. Annars. Pandey 3:50:15
109. Jaime Simpson 3:50:43
110. Maria Morales 3:50:48
111. Corrie Ackland 3:50:55
112. Hiroko Mitsuyasu 3:50:59
113. Takako Somei 3:51:03
114. Ayako Okamoto 3:51:16
115. Taylor Chock 3:51:37
116. Shuko Yamane 3:51:40
117. Emma Morton 3:51:43
118. Shiori Yamada 3:51:44
119. Yumiko Honda 3:52:03
120. Karla Wayman 3:52:19
121. Sabrina Hsu 3:52:22
122. Chiharu Hemmi 3:52:41
123. Jennifer Fu 3:52:45
124. Rie Ishii 3:52:50
125. Yayoi Ishizu 3:53:01
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
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