Maui’s Hunter, Holton lead local runners

Maui runners Reid Hunter and Matt Holton prepared for the Honolulu Marathon with training runs near the top of Haleakala.

The high-altitude runs came in handy on the climb around Diamond Head late in Sunday’s race and the training partners claimed top local honors.

“That’s a rough run, but it’s awesome,” Hunter said. “I knew it was coming. I had a little bit extra to save for it, but it still takes it out of you. You don’t know it until you experience it. Now I know.”

Hunter, a King Kekaulike graduate who lives in Lahaina, was the first Hawaii resident to finish the marathon, finishing 17th overall at 2:41:47. Davey Cagle, a former Hawaii Pacific University runner, came in four places later at 2:44:56.

Holton, born and raised in Kula, was the top kamaaina finisher at 2:48:01 and 29th overall.

“It’s been an idea for the last year,” Holton said of taking the top spots among Hawaii entrants. “Over the last six months we’ve been doing a lot of our long runs together and just having fun and focusing on doing well here.”

Hunter, 25, was born in California, moved to Maui at age 12 and was the boys 1,500-meter state champion in 2009. He attended Massey University in New Zealand before moving back to Hawaii. He won the Maui Marathon in September.

“It’s an honor to be a top resident winner,” said Hunter, who took three minutes off his previous best on Sunday. “That was our goal, to be first resident and first kamaaina and both came here and accomplished that today and couldn’t be happier.”

Holton, 38, claimed top kamaaina honors for the third time in as many appearances in Honolulu. Sunday’s race was the 13th marathon overall for the artist and coach.

Kathleen O’Neil of Honolulu was the top female resident finisher at 2:59:58. Bree Wee, a triathlete from Kailua-Kona, was next at 3:02:40. Malia Crouse was the top women’s kamaaina finisher at 2:51:50 followed by Candes Gentry.

Select ‘50’ club

Alicia Eno of Worcester, Mass., Michael Nusblat from Stony Point, N.Y., and Heather Ziegler of Downers Grove, Ill., don’t have a whole lot in common. But now they all share the accomplishment of 50Sub4 … They’ve all completed marathons in 50 states, and in under four hours. There’s an actual club for this, obviously for people who like to run and travel.

Eno finished in 3:34.03, Ziegler in 3:55.29 and Nusblat in 3:57.06.

This was the 103rd marathon for Nusblat, 63.

“I did 102 of them in under four hours,” he said. “Until September of this year. I did the Long Island Marathon to honor veterans. But I wasn’t prepared for it.”

Chairman of the course

Masazumi Soejima of Japan was the first wheelchair competitor to cross the finish line at the Honolulu Marathon for the ninth time. He won the men’s race in 1:33:12.

Christine Greer of Honolulu was the first woman finisher in 2:51:08.

From dirt to concrete

A week after finishing fourth in the Xterra Trail Run World Championship Half Marathon, Florian Neuschwander of Germany summoned enough energy to place sixth on Sunday at 2:27:58.

Neuschwander completed the Xterra race on Dec. 6 at Kualoa Ranch with a time of 1:29:31. He moved from the trails to the pavement and trailed only the lead pack of five Kenyans headed by champion Filex Kiprotich.

The streak continues

Jerold Chun and Gary Dill extended their streaks of competing in every Honolulu Marathon since the event’s inception in 1973.

Chun, who annually makes the trip from La Jolla, Calif., finished his 43rd race in 5:00:26. Dill, now in the men’s 70-74 age group, came in at 6:58:54.

Redesigned medals

Marathon finishers received the race’s redesigned medal. The gold-plated, crescent- shaped medal featured the king’s runner — the iconic image of the race. The medal deviates from the traditional circular-shaped medal and the redesign was spurred from positive feedback of medals from the Hapalua Half Marathon. Those medals featured the king’s runner on a spinner.

Entry numbers rise

The marathon drew 30,783 entrants this year, up from 30,434 last year. Of those, 12,532 were from Japan.

Another 2,811 entered the 6.2-mile race day walk.

HAWAII’S TOP 500