Feeling she had enough energy, Brigid Kosgei decided to make her move.
The 22-year-old Kenyan broke for the lead at mile 19 and cruised to her first marathon win of 2016 at Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon. Kosgei won the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 31 minutes, 11 seconds. American Lindsey Scherf finished second in 2:34:05 and Ethiopia’s Buzunesh Deba, who lives in the Bronx, was third in 2:35:34.
Kosgei and Scherf were in the lead pack from the start and the two held the lead from miles 15 to 19 as they ran through Hawaii Kai. After the 19-mile-mark, Kosgei broke away. A five-second gap soon turned into 11 seconds. Looking comfortable in stride, Kosgei built a 20-second lead by mile 20.
“At 30-kilometer, I see I have energy and I left (her) and pushed again,” said Kosgei, who averaged a 5:46 mile pace.
It was Kosgei’s first win of the year. She pocketed $40,000 for the victory. She was the runner-up at the Lisbon and Milan marathons and won two half-marathons this year.
“It will be nice to come here again,” Kosgei said.
Kosgei turned back several times late in the race to look behind her. But Scherf couldn’t cut into the lead and the gap continued to grow as Kosgei ran through Kahala, Diamond Head and into the finish line at Kapiolani Park.
“It was very nice but the weather was very hot,” Kosgei said.
Scherf, 30, noted she hits a rough patch around mile 19 in marathons, one that lasts several miles.
“It’s either I start feeling better or I just accept the hurt and it doesn’t get any worse and then I start mentally feeling better,” Scherf said. But the wheels never really fell off. I had a rough patch but it stabilized again.”
Scherf bypassed every aid station early in the race, never reaching for a sip of water until the 14th mile. She grabbed a drink again at mile 18.
“It’s my freak of nature ways in humidity,” said Scherf, who attended Harvard for her undergraduate and has a background in psychology, kinesiology and physiology. “I’m really well accustomed to it. Normally just in my training, even when I’m running all out in Singapore in the heat, 80 minutes is sort of the mark I know whether I’m thirsty or not and try to drink something.”
Scherf recently moved to Singapore and broke a half-marathon record there a week ago before catching a 17-hour flight to Honolulu. It’s not the first time she’s done a quick turnaround to get from one race to the next. On Oct. 9, she placed eighth at the USA Track &Field 10-mile championships in Minneapolis. Less than 24 hours later, she placed fifth in the USATF 10-kilometer championships in Boston.
“I was realistically thinking top five and ambitiously top three,” said Scherf, who earned $16,000. “So I don’t really have the words to describe top two because I’m surprised and very happy.”
Deba, a contender for November’s New York City Marathon before dropping out of the race, fell back from Kosgei and Scherf during mile 15. Deba, who earned $10,000, said after the race that training in New York City didn’t prepare her for Honolulu’s humidity. China’s Yingying Zhang finished fourth for the second consecutive year in 2:38:40, earning $6,000. Zhang dropped from the lead pack in the third mile.
