Travel delays didn’t leave Wilson Chebet much time to take in the scenery in his first visit to Hawaii.
Chebet didn’t arrive in town until the Friday before last year’s Honolulu Marathon and weathered a rainy Sunday morning to claim the title.
The defending champion got in a day earlier this time around and enjoyed a photo shoot on the beach in Waikiki on a sunny afternoon Friday with the other professionals entered in the 43rd annual race.
As for race day, Chebet wouldn’t mind a repeat of last year’s blustery conditions.
“To me I prefer the weather like last year,” Chebet said. “Sometimes running with hot conditions like this, I’m not so sure about it. Last year was lucky because it was raining. Whenever I find a race raining or cold weather, it’s perfect.”
Of the 10 elite competitors in the men’s field, only Chebet, 30, and Benjamin Kiptoo, 36, enter Sunday’s race with experience on the Honolulu course.
But that hasn’t been a prerequisite for success recently, with first-time entrants winning the past three years.
“I know the course now, but the challenge now is (humidity),” Chebet said.
Chebet will wear bib No. 1 as the defending champion and will lead the throng onto the 26.2-mile course at 5 a.m. Sunday. He’ll attempt to become the first repeat winner since Nicholas Chelimo crossed the finish line at Kapiolani Park first in 2010 and ‘11.
Last year, Chebet tucked in with the pack as rain pelted the pros through the Hawaii Kai loop. The group thinned on the return leg along Kalanianaole Highway and Chebet broke away on Diamond Head Road to extend the marathon’s streak of Kenyan champions to eight, finishing the race in 2 hours, 15 minutes, 35 seconds.
Chebet had previously won the Amsterdam Marathon three straight years (2011-13) and finished second in the Boston Marathon last year. His results this year include a third-place finish in Boston (2:10:22) and a fifth in Amsterdam (2:08:45).
Among the most intriguing contenders chasing the $40,000 first prize may be 42-year-old Kenneth Mungara, who began his career in marathons at 35. Despite his late start in the sport, he has three wins in the Toronto Marathon and won the Milan Marathon and Brisbane Marathon this year. He set the masters (40-plus) world record at 2:08:42 with his win in Australia.
Mungara was a barber in the Kenyan town of Limuru and would listen to the tales of the runners who frequented his shop until, “one day I decided, I can do it.”
“I didn’t want them to know I started doing some training. I just doing it alone,” he said. “I didn’t have a program, I didn’t have a coach. So I have to go back there and listen to what they do and go back and do something.”
He won the Singapore Marathon last year and decided to come to Hawaii rather than defend his title. He said he’s comfortable in humid conditions and won’t spend much time scouting the course ahead of the race.
“I don’t know (the course). I want to go like that, like I’m blind,” he said. “I want to go without knowing anything.”
Seven of the 10 elite runners are from Kenya, as is pacesetter Samuel Ndungu.
Entries for the race were ahead of last year’s pace, with 32,227 runners signed up prior to the Honolulu Marathon Expo, which usually draws another 1,000 or so entries. Late entries will be accepted through 5 p.m. today.
43RD HONOLULU MARATHON
>> When: Sunday, 5 a.m.
>> TV: KITV
>> Radio: KKNE, 940 am
>> Start: Ala Moana Boulevard/Queen Street Extension
>> Finish: Kapiolani Park
>> Defending champions: Wilson Chebet (men), Joyce Chepkirui (women)
