2024 Honolulu Marathon: Yamane Haileselassie of Eritrea crosses the finish line
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The first male finisher for the wheelchair race was Kota Hokinoue of Japan.
Through an interpreter he said, "It was a little bit tough today, but there people on the road helping, it gave me the energy to finish out."
Wakako Tsuchida was the first female wheelchair finisher.
In the marathon, 26-year old Yamane Haileselassie of Eritrea was the first male runner to cross the finish line with a scorching fast time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 59 seconds. In a tight race he finished 17 seconds ahead of Kenya's Reuben Kerio for the title
Following the win, Haileselassie said, "It's a good city, it's very nice, I enjoy the view, the oceans, and the nice people."
"I'm happy and grateful for this opportunity", added Haileselassie. "I will use this money to support my family back in Eritrea." (Eritrea is located in Africa and it's bordered by Ethiopia and Sudan).
The prize money is $25,000, along with a solid gold medal worth $15,000.
Cynthia Limo of Kenya was the top female participant with a time of 2:31:14 seconds in the marathon. She'll also receive the same prizes as Haileselassie.
The number one Hawaii male/female finishers were Jared Breux from Kailua who completed the 26.2 mile marathon in 2:44:49 and Kathryn Watt of Kailua who finished in 3:01:51.
The first Kama'aina finishers were both from Honolulu - Gabriel Tom (2:52:09) and Amanda Beaman (3:07:32).
Additionally, Ben Jones competed Sunday, meaning he's now completed marathons in all 50 states in the span of 14 years.
Meanwhile, the medical staff which was tasked with a vast number of potential challenges throughout the race, helped make it all happen.
Medical Director of the Honolulu Marathon Dr. Alexander Berk told Island News, "Last year, we were right at about 30,000, this year we're well north of 35,000 runners, a lot of that is that our Japanese friends are now coming back, we have I think over 8,000 Japanese runners."
The Honolulu marathon's prepared for severe circumstances.
"We're standing in our main medical treatment tent, as you can see here, we have very robust capabilities, to see hundreds of patients, last year alone we saw 300 patients - in a tent like this, we have everything from advance labs, we have plunge pools to be able to rapidly cool patients down if they're hypothermic or get too much heat", added Dr. Berk.
Marathon officials said 39 percent of participants were Hawaii residents and over 60 percent were visitors.
Beyond that, organizers said registration numbers are up 25 percent from a year ago.
