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Dec-9-2005
Diamond Head May Decide Honolulu Race
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
Perhaps not as well known as Heart Break Hill in Boston or the Queensborough Bridge in New York City, Diamond Head Avenue, the base road of the famous volcano of the same name, is the ascent in the Honolulu Marathon most likely to separate the winners from their rivals. It is, in fact, the only significant climb on the mostly sea level course here, rising to about 110 feet (34m) above the Pacific Ocean.
Although hardly a mountain pass worthy of a major cycling tour, this hill is deceptively difficult because of its steepness and where the athletes encounter it in the race. They must climb and descend it twice, first early in the early going and then just before the finish.
The first encounter comes in the seventh mile (12th kilometer) as the course heads northeast after an 11 km out-and-back loop from the starting line. In this direction, the athletes climb in complete darkness as the sun will not yet have risen (the race begins at five o'clock). It is steeper in this direction, too. From sea level, the full elevation is realized in only about half a mile. Rarely does anyone push the pace here.
But on the return trip of the course, when the runners reach the intersection of Royal Place on Kahala Ave., the rise begins gently late in the 24th mile (38th km). It isn't nearly as steep in this direction, but it is longer and the tropical sun is just beginning to rise over the luxury homes which overlook the Pacific on the athletes' left. The temperature is now much higher, strides more labored. It's a good place for an athlete who is feeling strong to strike.
In 2003, Eri Hayakawa of Japan earned her only victory here when she came from behind two Russians, Albina and Alevtina Ivanova, running up Diamond Head Avenue.
"I could not see Albina because of the curve (in the road)," Hayakawa explained after the race, noting that she was just pushing herself as hard as she could.
In the last year's race, Diamond Head did not plan a significant role, at least in determining the winners. Jimmy Muindi broke the race open at 30-K (as he did the year before) and sailed home to get his fourth victory here and a course record (2:11:12) in unusually cool and windless conditions.
Lyubov Morgunova led the entire second half of the race to set the women's course record of 2:27:33.
Both Muindi and Morgunova are here this year to defend their titles, and Muindi will have to beat his arch rival, three-time champion Mbarak Hussein, the Kenyan-born American who is now 40 years-old. The two joked with each other today in the lobby of the Ohana Outrigger Reef Hotel where the elite athletes are housed. When a reporter suggested that beating Hussein now should be easier for Muindi because his rival is now over 40, Muindi paused.
He then smiled and said simply: "More experience."
Race winners will be awarded $15,000 on Sunday and have the opportunity to earn time and course record bonuses.
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