It was designed to be the fastest marathon course in Hawaii.
Saturday’s Inaugural Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon turned out to be just that, as it drew 90 runners over to the east side of the island looking for a new challenge and a race they hoped to finish with a personal best for the 26.2-mile footrace.
The marathon began at the Volcano Golf &Country Club in Volcano National Park and finished in Hilo. What made it unique from any other marathon in the state was having a continuous elevation drop for the point-to-point race — a total of 3,792 feet to be exact.
While the marathon was kept low-key due to its limit of 100 participants, rumors swirled in the weeks leading up to the race of why race director, Bob Kennedy, meticulously designed it to be fast.
According to Laupahoehoe’s Alan Ryan, who helped Kennedy during race week figuring out logistics for the event, Kennedy is a prolific marathon runner from New Hampshire and also the president of the 50sub4 Marathon Club. The club was created for runners who share in the goal of completing the 26.2-mile distance in every state and doing it in less than four hours.
While the 69-year-old has completed marathons in every state, only Hawaii, New Mexico and Colorado have proved to be most challenging as he could never break the four hour barrier.
“He’s done the Hilo Marathon I believe three times but never under four hours,” Ryan said. “And he did some other marathons in Maui with the same result. So he decided to do this one because it’s an aided course, which is allowable. There are certain rules that needs to be followed in order for it to be a 50sub4 Marathon course.”
To have an “aided course” means that runners have the advantage of running downhill for most of the way. And some of the rules for the 50sub4 Marathon are having at least ten participants, a marathon course that is USATF certified, and a few other specifics that applied to how the event is timed.
“So when he started this he wanted to make it small like 50 people, but then word got out which is why he increased it to 100,” Ryan said. “So in the end it became a ‘combo event’ – an aided course that complied with the 50sub4 Marathon rules and also a Boston Marathon qualifier.”
Ryan, who has consistently placed at the top of race results and is considered to be one of Big Island’s most accomplished long distance runners, is no stranger to helping race directors figure out the course logistics for endurance events held on the island.
Most recently, his name has been tagged to the Mauna To Mauna Ultra, Reebok Ragnar Hawaii, and the 100 percent Pure Kona Coffee Half Marathon to name a few.
“I do it because no else wants to do it,” Ryan said with a laugh. “Bob needed someone locally because he’s not from here and there were so much stuff that needed to get done. So I agreed to help him get most of the groundwork done like the gear, the timing, the volunteers, and the aid stations. He pretty much did everything else like certifying the course, emails, awards and such.”
For Kailua-Kona resident, Kelly Hudik, the event presented a perfect opportunity for her marathon debut.
“This was a bit of a unicorn race for me,” Hudik said. “I never thought that I’d complete this distance and I joked that I’d only do a marathon if it was in cool temperatures and downhill. We started at the Volcano Country Club Golf Course under starry skies and a frigid 43 degrees and there was a total drop of 3,792 feet, so it hit all my marks! I actually heard about this race from Joe Ironman, so I have him to thank for finding my unicorn and leading me to it.”
Oahu’s Kengo Yoshimoto took top honors with his time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 28 seconds. Jason Lewis of Tennessee followed in second place at 2:54:45, with California’s Christian Puscasiu in third at 2:57:52.
Kailua-Kona’s Ben Halpern was the top Big Islander, completing his first marathon ever in a fantastic time of 3:07:02, which placed him 5th overall.
On the women’s side, Angela Hodge of Flagstaff, Arizona, claimed victory with her time of 3:08:55. Kailua-Kona’s Michelle Tilley kept it close with a great time of 3:13:34, with Hauula’s Alyssa Amos rounding out the podium in 3:29:27.
Hudik finished in 5:00:35
“The biggest challenge wasn’t so much the distance as running on such cambered shoulders,” the 36-year old said. “The majority of the downhill was really at the first half of the race, so trying not to fly out of the gate too fast running down those hills was something I had to be aware of.”
Ryan agreed that running downhill could be challenging.
“It’s tough for sure,” he said. “While it’s an aided, downhill course, in the end your legs are pretty trashed. And even when there were some flat sections in there, your legs are already trashed and so it turned out to be super tough for everybody. It beats up your quads. It’s an art to run downhill. While it may be fun for the first few miles, it does catch up to you.”
As for Kennedy, he finally got the monkey off his back with his sub four hour finishing time of 3:56:23.
“He was super happy, but definitely in agony after crossing the line,” Ryan said. “But at least it’s something he can finally check off his bucket list.”
Proceeds of the event supported the endemic birds of Hawaii through the Hawaii Forest Institute sponsored by the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center Discovery Forest in Volcano.
