If you want results, David Monti is your guy.

If there’s a distance race anywhere in the world he can tell you who won, and why.

And if you need help deciding which professional runners to invite to your event, he can do that, too.

He’s been providing results since the 1990s … well, even before that if you count the financial analyst work he did well enough to rise to a vice president position at Citibank.

This week, Monti — one of the world’s most knowledgeable experts in distance running — is working as the Honolulu Marathon’s media and race consultant. He’s not really taking a break from his regular job as editor of Race Results Weekly. It all ties in together.

Monti, 54, has been a fixture here in recent years, a go-to guy when the media have questions about the front-of-the pack runners.

"I do feel kind of bad about taking away his vacation," Honolulu Marathon president Jim Barahal joked.

"He’s on probation," Barahal added, and then breaking into a wide grin, "no, make that double-secret probation."

Monti aptly compares a marathon to a Broadway production, with a huge cast and support crew. And with Honolulu proudly known for being "The People’s Race," he is becoming as well-schooled in the "citizen runner" aspects of the event as he is in his expertise regarding the professional elites.

Barahal estimates 661,000 people have completed the Honolulu Marathon. For many if not most it is the biggest athletic achievement of their lives.

Monti, himself a finisher of six marathons (not Honolulu yet), understands that.

"I’m a huge fan of the big tent idea of the marathon," he says. "If you’re an NFL player, you have to be on one of two teams to play in the Super Bowl. As a runner, you can be a regular person and run with the professionals. You share a kinship with the top competitors. There are more similarities than differences."

In 1994 the former college gymnast turned his interest in running into a business — with a rough beginning.

"It was sending results from three events to six people, by fax," Monti said. "Half the time the fax would jam. I kept my regular job."

But as email and Internet access became more common, Monti was in the right place to take advantage of the technology. Race Results Weekly grew and began to make money.

Soon, there was what he called an "aha moment."

"With all the data I was collecting I could give people advice," he said.

In 1996 Monti was hired by NBC to assist in coverage of the Olympics, sleeping on sofas and spending more than he earned to get to Atlanta and back from his native New York. 

As his reputation and expertise grew, event directors took notice. Eventually, traveling the world consulting at marathons became profitable enough that he could leave his day job.

His first year working for the New York Marathon was 2001, less than two months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Mayor (Rudy) Giuliani was determined to put it on. We lost some people because they were afraid to travel. Ground Zero was still smoking. It was raw. But the first-place man and woman both broke the record."

Monti’s resume as a reporter, consultant or organizer includes 20 Boston Marathons, five Olympics and dozens of others.

"The bonus is that my wife (Jane) volunteered to help me, and now she’s a full partner," he said. "The joke around our house is we know our partner isn’t stealing."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.