Jim Barahal, who has been president of the Honolulu Marathon Association since 1985, told the Star-Bulletin that he authorized one of his assistants to make a preliminary overture to Carole Kai Charities Inc. in recent weeks.

He said he has received no response to that overture, delivered by Jeanette Chun. But he said he is still waiting to hear from the GAR and made it clear he wants to "sit down and talk" with organizers of the 13-year-old event.

"It's the next largest event in town to the marathon and obviously has a lot of strengths," said Barahal. His association currently stages the marathon, the Diamond Head Duet during marathon week, the world class-caliber Nike Waikiki P.L.A.Y. Mile, and the Kukini four-miler on Kamehameha Day. Inaugurated last summer, it is a prize-money race local residents-only.

Barahal has also signed a three-year agreement to sponsor the Hawaii High School Athletic Association cross country championships.

"We're definitely looking to do more. It's fair to say we'd like to have more of a year-round presence in the community," he said.

"And I think it would be nice to put all of these events under one umbrella. Certainly, we're interested because the Great Aloha is huge with 15,000 finishers."

Star-Bulletin calls to Carole Kai Charities concerning the matter were not returned.

But Jack Scaff, race director for both the GAR and the May 11th Great Trans Ko'olau Trek, reacted tersely last night in a phone interview.

"I have nothing to say about that -- I'm just the race director," he said. "All I can say is fine, whatever is good for the Great Aloha Run."

Barahal said he'd consider recruiting a world-class elite field for the GAR, as he has done for the marathon and the mile. He said it would boost the prestige of the GAR which has never had a world-class front field.

"That's something you should do in a big race like the Great Aloha Run," he said. "It helps to have an elite field."

The 1995 Honolulu Marathon champion, South Africa's Josiah Thungwane of , went on to win Olympic gold in Atlanta. Kenyans Ibrahim Husein, Cosmas Ndeti and Benson Masya all springboarded from the local marathon to worldwide prominence as runners.

Barahal said he might be interested in changing some of the "infrastructure and organization" of the event if the marathon association took over. "But you don't change the character of the Great Aloha Run," he said, indicating he would maintain the local flavor of the event.

There were 17,311 entries and 15,044 finishers in last month's GAR.

But the GAR was criticized this year for a number of course security breakdowns, for allowing military formations to partially clog the race, and for failing to produce race results for several days.

Barahal said he thinks the marathon association could solve the GAR's problems.

The marathon, which had 24,427 finishers last December, was the third largest U.S. marathon in 1996. In 1995, it was the largest in the world with 27,048 finishers.

Race results are completed within hours of the last finisher by the staff of international road race computer specialist Mike Burns. Unavailability of results has been a major complaint of GAR participants.

Meanwhile, Scaff said that a demand by 54 entrants in his 10-mile Great Trans Ko'olau Trek (scheduled for May 11) that they be refunded a portion of their entry fees has yet to be resolved.

Christine Ferreira, spokesperson for the unhappy entrants, said she and the others made an effort to meet the original registration deadline of Dec. 31, 1996 by sending in the local resident's early entry fee of $39. Ferreira said they were chagrined when the deadline was extended again and again.

But she said that when the H-3 organizers made a late decision to allow local residents to sign up as members of a team for $29 apiece, entrants who'd paid $39 became angry.

"I believe the original objective of the event was a worthy one, to provide a one-time only course through the Ko'olau mountains," Ferreira said in a March 5 letter she sent to Scaff.

"However as the race developed, I have been disenchanted by the numerous changes in the fee schedule."

Ferreira said that Scaff should refund $10 to her and each of the 54 who have signed a petition.

In Scaff's reply of March 8, he said, "The $29 entry fee was suggested for group entrants through corporations and done to assist particularly our sponsors."

A number of entrants have complained about the cost of entering the H-3 race, pointing out that the marathon charges only $30.