The start of Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon will mark a significant step in Ian and Ryan Tsang’s mission to grow the sport locally.

The brothers, both University of Hawaii students, embarked on establishing a semi-professional running team this fall with Ryan Tsang representing the fledgling Honu Elite in Sunday’s race.

Ian Tsang, a management and marketing major at UH, is working with the marathon as an intern and invested his earnings into “The Hawaii Project” with a goal of helping “local athletes to reach their full potential.”

“It’s giving them motivation to keep pursuing athletics after college or after high school if they aren’t going to be competing in college,” Ian Tsang said.

Ian, 19, came up with the idea for the venture after writing online articles as a Seabury Hall student for national websites. The brothers started the team with five men in varying distance specialties with plans to recruit women to the roster.

“I was talking to all these athletes on the mainland and wondering how can we get athletes here to be quick as them,” he said. “We don’t have that many people looking at us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do as well as them.”

Ryan Tsang, 21, specializes in the half-marathon and plans to keep pace with the elite women on Sunday through 13 miles “and see if I want to continue.”

He ran with Team Hawaii in the Hapalua the last two years and finished second behind Kenya’s Philip Tarbei in 2017 with a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes, 5 seconds. He placed fifth this year while dealing with an injury, but formed a connection with Tarbei on their runs.

Tarbei, a two-time Hapalua champion, will make his third visit to Honolulu as part of the elite field in Sunday’s marathon and Ryan Tsang plans to travel to Kenya in January for a month of training.

Ryan, a Maui High graduate, will travel with fellow Team Honu member, Matt Holton, the Honolulu Marathon’s top resident finisher from 2014 to ’16.

Along with training, they plan to return with lessons to impart to their high school teams and runners in their weekly open workouts at UH.

“Obviously it would be nice to improve running-wise. (But) it’s going there to find the purity of running and just find clarity,” said Tsang, an assistant coach with ‘Iolani’s cross country and track and field teams.

“(Tarbei’s) been telling me how good it is and to come visit. It took two years, but it’s good to finally take this step.”

Fitness weekend

Sunday’s 26.2-mile race is expected to draw close to 27,000 entrants, with two shorter events adding to the weekend’s participation numbers.

The marathon weekend opens Saturday with the Kalakaua Merrie Mile with the second Start to Park 10K to run concurrently with the marathon on Sunday.

Marathon president Jim Barahal noted “a fluke” in the course layout that allows a 10K to be run within the marathon. The events start with the 5 a.m. fireworks show along Ala Moana Boulevard. The 10K participants finish at Kapiolani Park while the marathon field continues on through East Honolulu before circling back to the park.

The 10K drew 4,900 entrants last year and 4,700 had signed up for Sunday’s race as of Tuesday with late registration continuing this week. Entries will be capped at 5,500.

Expo opens today

Entrants can pick up their race packets starting today at the Marathon Expo at the Hawaii Convention Center.

The expo will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Participants will need to present a valid ID to pick up their packet. Each entrant must pick up their own packet.

Late entries will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Saturday. Admission to the expo is free.

Traffic advisory

Traffic closures along the marathon route will start Sunday at 12:30 a.m. Areas of downtown, Kakaako, Ala Moana, Waikiki, Diamond Head, Kahala and East Honolulu will be affected. There will be lane closures, tow-away zones and rerouting of TheBus.

The route runs to Kakaako, downtown and continues through Ala Moana, Waikiki, Diamond Head, Kahala and into East Honolulu. Runners turn around in Hawaii Kai and head back to the finish line at Kapiolani Park.

Details are available at honolulumarathon.org. Traffic questions can be directed to info@honolulumarathon.org until Friday.