Ehitu Kiros held back as long as she could. Seeing a downhill up ahead and with only 2 miles left, she finally made her move to win Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon.

Kiros, 25, of Ethiopia won the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 2 seconds and pocketed the $40,000 prize. Woynishet Girma of Ethiopia, the 2011 champion and last year’s runner-up, finished second in 2:36:10. Defending champion Valentina Galimova of Russia was third in 2:36:13.

“I’m happy and comfortable,” Kiros said through an interpreter.

Kiros’ winning time was the slowest since 1995 champion Colleen De Reuck (2:37:29) and nearly 13 minutes off her personal best of 2:23:39 at January’s Dubai Marathon. The times of the top three runners broke down to a 5:58-mile pace.

“I know it’s hilly and I have to wait and then I decided over there at 24 miles,” Kiros said of her breakaway move.

Running at a conservative pace the entire race, the lead field whittled down to Kiros and Girma after the 16th mile. The two ran side-by-side and encouraged each other.

“She was strong,” Kiros said of Girma. “It was hard competing with (her).”

Right after an uphill stretch on the 24th mile in Diamond Head, Kiros broke off. She quickly built a 10-second lead on the downhill and held on into the finish at Kapiolani Park.

“I can go (faster) than this pace, but I didn’t know how difficult the hill (was),” Kiros said. “As I saw downhill, I continued.”

Galimova, the race leader through the first 10 miles, fell behind and then battled back over the last half of the marathon — putting herself within striking distance of winning. It seemed improbable Galimova would return to the pack. She was more than 30 seconds behind Ethiopians Kiros, Girma and Aheza Kiros when the runners entered Hawaii Kai at mile 15. But on the way back on Kalanianaole Highway, Galimova passed Aheza Kiros and slowly closed the gap on the front two.

With the leaders trudging at a low six-minute-mile pace, Galimova cut the gap to 25 seconds at mile 22 and was only 11 seconds behind at mile 24.

“I got excited about it and it helps me to run faster,” Galimova said.

Right after Ehitu Kiros broke away from Girma, Girma looked back, noticed Galimova for the first time and immediately increased her pace.

“I (thought) about second place, but I know the first runner … she’s a good runner,” said Galimova, who nearly sprinted past Girma at the finish.

“With no pacemaker here, everybody was looking (at) winning,” Kiros said. “If there could be pacemaker around, we could’ve run faster.”

Asked about the $40,000 prize, she said, “I’ll try to manage my life in Ethiopia. I’m happy to win Honolulu Marathon. We’ll see next year. (I’ll) be happy to come again.”

Galimova would also like to return for a fifth consecutive time.

“I want to do better,” she said. “I like this marathon, it’s my tradition to run here. It’s great to run here.”

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