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Dec 23, 2024

Honolulu Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Honolulu Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.0

Organization 3.7

Spectators 3.9

Number of comments: 203 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 20 > ]

N. L. from Michigan (12/15/2019) "Great Reason to Plan a Race-cation in Hawaii" (about: 2019) 6-10 previous marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 This was my 9th marathon and a wonderful reason to visit Honolulu and stay a week after. For that reason this race was worth doing. Expo was good and it was fun to spectate the day prior for the Merrie Mile event. The course itself was difficult and much more so than anticipated despite viewing the course on Strava and the website. The first hill up Diamond Head Rd (miles 7-9) is a very long gradual grade that is manageable but taxing. After that it felt like a 4-6 mile gradual decline to Hawaii Kai for the turn-around...followed by heading back up that decline. Mile 24-25 back up Diamond Head was the nail in my race coffin - by then the sun was up and my body was done. I ended up finishing about 10 minutes slower than another fall marathon this year about 8 weeks prior. Crowd support was great. My two complaints are echoed by many other reviews I read: 1) the starting line is a disorganized mess. I started near the front and lined up next to people I didn't could finish a 5k much less a marathon. 2) the finish area - dry nasty bagels, bananas and donuts. The donut thing is cute and unique but honestly in 80 degree heat after a marathon I don't want a donut. No drinks other than water, no beer tent and no food...hugely disappointing for a race this size and relative to the high entry fee. Lastly keep in mind while considering this race that the 5am start time means the first 2 hours of the race were completely dark so do not plan on a visual tour of Honolulu during the first half to 2/3rds of the race. Overall, I'd do this race again if it meant another trip to Hawaii but otherwise no reason to do it again.
ArchDuke Kenneth Khanh Du from CA (12/10/2018) "The Ultimate Paradise Run!" (about: 2016) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 REVIEW FOR THE JAL HONOLULU MARATHON The Ultimate Paradise Run! This is the first marathon race-trip that I took my parents along. I wanted to impress them, so we stayed 5 days/4 nights at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, where everything is within walking distance. We experience the very best that Honolulu had to offer including the Hilton's Waikiki Starlight Hawaiian Luau with premiere seatings, Benihana's seafood lobster medley, Hatsuhana, 24hrs Wailana Coffee house for traditional Hawaiian breakfast, Saigon Salad Cafe (inexpensive), Hawaiian Hula dancers, being on the live film set of Hawaii Five-0, photos with Hawaiian girls, a great 26.2 course, awesome 4 1/8 in diameter x 1/4 in thick Gold Finisher's Medal, original Finisher's Certificate, Finisher's Booklet with your name included (available on Monday), and meet/greet with Honolulu Marathon's champions! FYI: The Honolulu Marathon is the fourth largest marathon in the US, and unique in that there is no cut off time, therefore attracting both fast runners as well as walkers. In 2016, the last official finisher (60-64yrs) took 16:11:44! Japan Airline (JAL) is the official sponsor of the Honolulu Marathon and more than half of the marathon runners are from Japan. On Race Day Sunday, December 11, 2016, I ran for 16 miles nonstop, starting at 5:00am, going at top speed of 8.5 miles/hr, but humidity & jet leg hit me like a brick wall. I walk the remainder. My time is 04:42:02 and I placed in 3082. Based on 40,000+ marathon runners in attendance, I then rank in the top 7.7% for Honolulu! Through hard work, determination and perseverance, I NOW RANK IN THE TOP 1% FOR CALIFORNIA - AND THE WORLD! - BY WINNING THE MOST CONSECUTIVE MEDALS! View my other review with photos for more info.
A. P. from Kaimuki, Honolulu, Hawai'i (11/6/2018) "Volunteers still great. Organization worse every y" (about: 2017) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Honolulu Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 Good: Course, volunteers, support, HPD. Volunteers, as always are the best. From packet pick-up through aid stations along the course, to assistance in the park, they are all to be commended. Bad: No staging control (10K walkers starting ahead of marthoners!) Took me :21 to cross Start Line! Entry fee continues to soar while service declines. Ugly: Garish, clunky, China-made medals. Old ones had class. T-shirts worse every year. Sizing wrong and who abbreviates FINISHER like this: FINI - SHER? Can no longer have certificate mailed. No pick-up the next day? Print it yourself or go without! I've completed 41 consecutive Honolulu Marathons and my streak keeps me going, but there is less joy each year because it is now HONOLULU MARATHON, INC. Finishing used to feel like an accomplishment. Now it feels like a chore!
Joel White from San Diego, CA (12/13/2017) "Great spectators on a relatively flat course" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This is one of the largest marathons in the country. There are a few very unique aspects of the race. First off, there is no time limit and no entry limit. So it just so happens that this year, an 81 year old woman was the last to cross the finish line after about 16 hours. You will notice right away that the race attracts a lot of walkers. If you are even slightly towards the front half of the pack in the average marathon, you will place high. Japan Airlines sponsors the event, so it attracts thousands of participants from Japan. The course itself could definitely highlight more parts of the city. Besides downtown, the only other two major parts include Diamond Head and a big loop around Hawaii Kai. For the 2017 race, we got very lucky with the weather for it being in the tropics, and as a result the mens and womens course records were both broken and I broke the four hour mark at a 3:59:06 despite being way behind that pace in the first half. We even got some rain during the race, which didn't stop the spectators from coming out making it a big plus. Overall, I had a great time and plan on doing it again sometime in the future.
S. R. from Washington (12/11/2017) "Super fun, super chill race" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I really enjoyed this marathon! I've seen some fairly harsh reviews and I think the race committee must have seen them as well. The medals and lei are given to you right when you cross the finish line and they really do TRY to get you to line up per your corral. You can't change the nature of the runners. I would say AT LEAST 50% of the folks running are not 'runners'. They didn't train; they've never done a race before; they don't get running etiquette. So yes, people will line up in your corral when they shouldn't and it did take me about 4-5 miles to weave in/out of slow runners and walkers. But it was a VERY well organized race with tons of support and aid stations. I liked the fact that I could walk and chill out and didn't feel super pressured to finish with a good time. It was a fun race and I'd totally do it again. This was my 10th marathon.
A. H. from Brunei (8/21/2017) "Wonderful Scenery" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The route/Course was a 5 stars with very beautiful scenery. The organization and spectators too. My friend and I had a wonderful time in Honolulu. this is our 'RUN VACATION' trip. Really miss Honolulu and hope one day I can came again.
S. B. from Anchorage, AK (1/17/2017) "Enjoyed the race" (about: 2016) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 This was my first BIG marathon, so I don't necessarily have a large baseline against which to compare Honolulu. My two prior marathons were both much, much smaller local races. I thought aid station support throughout was great. Trying to negotiate the crowds was difficult. As near as I can tell, no one paid attention to the corrals at the start line. I lined up towards the back of the 2:00 to 3:00 hour expected finish time, yet people were walking right from the gun. I enjoyed the course, particularly with the sun coming up at the turn-around. Also enjoyed seeing the elite runners on their return. The post-run setup was a little confusingit wasn't clear to me where to pick up shirts and the likebut manageable in the end. We stayed near the zoo (kind ofcloser to the finish than the start), but I walked to the start rather than take the shuttle. It was a little surreal navigating the streets of Waikiki at 3:30 in the morning, at least until I merged with the stream of other runners and left the prostitutes and drunks to their own futures without my further assistance.
E. W. from Mississippi (12/28/2016) "Eh...." (about: 2016) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I chose this race out of convenience and timing (uncle lives there and plans to move next year so I went ahead & took advantage). HUGE race. Logistically getting to the start wasn't bad if you had someone to drop you off or spent the $$$$ to stay nearby. Positives: -Cool medal -lots of spectators, however most were Japanese and weren't cheering for you. -three days of Expo prior to race. -some nice views of the ocean. -Big finish area (although the finisher T-shirt tent was buried deep inside the finish area. Negatives: -The start line was a small banner strung across an intersection with a few crowd control barriers. (for a race with 25K+ people). -The corral system was worthless. More than 50% of the runners were Japanese and either didn't understand the corral system or didn't care and were too focused on getting a 'front row (ie starting line) seat' to the fireworks at the beginning. I am a comfortable 4:30ish marathoner. When I saw the amount of people in FRONT of the corral marked '2:00-3:00,' I joined that corral. -Fireworks: When the gun went off, the fireworks started. Instead of running, people just stood there and videoed the fireworks. For like 5 minutes! I wiggled my way through them to run. -Way too easy to cheat on this race: There were a lot of volunteers but several out & backs that weren't separated and as crowded as it was, hundreds cheated. This throws off the results for those of us who were actually trying to get a good, official time. -Race started at 5am (not a bad thing) but it was pitch black for the first 9 miles (for me at least) so those advertised views of Waikiki and other beaches were nonexistent. There were a substantial amount of Christmas lights and decorations in that area though. Would NOT do this race again. Checked off Hawaii so I'm satisfied. We also came early to partake in a few 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor ceremonies. That was the highlight of our trip. If you have the opportunity to run another race, I suggest doing that.
L. O. from Kaneohe HI (12/19/2015) "Nice course, lots of people" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I was warned about the amount of people running this marathon so I came into it with no expectations of having a decent finish time. It's advertised as having 34k+ runners but many less than that showed up, closer to 24k. I'm a local so the weather didn't bother me as much as folks from cooler climates. My plan was to park near the zoo and take the bus. I was there early and all the street parking was blocked off. I ended up parking across from the Hale Koa and walking to the start which worked out very well. The start line was a madhouse and I jumped into the moving crowd of people with no idea where I was. No corrals and I didn't see any signs of where to line up. Unless I totally missed them, I didn't see any restrooms after the start until mile 6. Luckily some restaurants had their doors open and welcomed us. The Christmas lights and decorations in town were really beautiful. The finish area could be organized better. I would compare this race to Disney in that it was very crowded, plenty of people unfamiliar with race etiquette, lots of folks taking pictures, etc. Don't take it too seriously. If you are on Oahu on vacation for this race, get out of Waikiki and explore the rest of the island. It really is gorgeous. I'll do it again because I live close but I would recommend looking at other islands if you want to check Hawaii off your marathon list. And the expo was meh. For such a major marathon it was a letdown.
B. W. from South Lyon, Michigan (12/15/2015) "OK Race but not one to do twice" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Honolulu Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I decided to do Honolulu as part of my 50 states quest and a vacation celebration of 25 years of marriage. We stayed at the military hotel, so we were able to get a break in the price and stay out of some of the madness. Approximately 30000 registered for the race but only 22009 showed up to run and many of those were Japanese runners treating this as a destination marathon. The pros and cons were: Pros 1. Lots of support on the course 2. Frequent water stops with water, Gatorade, sponges, and PowerGel. 3. Fireworks at start 4. No time limit 5. Nice medal and finisher tech shirt 6. Well prepared medical staff Cons 1. Lame small expo with many booths having little running connection 2. No easy transportation to start or from finish 3. Bags with clothing needed to be checked day before race at finish line 4. Out and back 10 miles of course on highway with no shade that compounded high temp and high humidity weather that is common for the marathon 5. Insufficient portapotties and placed too close to start 6. Pace signs at start, but no corrals so many runners did not line up appropriately 7. Sold as destination run to many Japanese runners many of whom were not adequately prepared 8. Finish line poorly arranged forcing runners to walk long distances to claim medal, finisher shirt, and post race food. 9. Registration was over $150 unless you registered in the first few weeks or were a local I recommend considering a marathon on one of the other islands or coming into Honolulu with significantly reduced expectations.

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