Associated Press
Eric Kimaiyo will return to
defend his marathon title.

---

Marathon champ
coming back

Kenya's Eric Kimaiyo
has the world's second fastest
time this year

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

The 25th Honolulu Marathon signed one top runner this week and jettisoned another.

Kenyan Eric Kimaiyo, who has the second fastest marathon time in the world this year, has come to financial terms with the Honolulu Marathon Association to defend his title here Dec. 14.

Kimaiyo came in second in the Berlin Marathon two weeks ago with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 43 seconds -- two seconds behind countryman Elijah Lagat.

Meanwhile, Kenyan Joseph Kamau, the Boston Marathon runner-up, has been uninvited from the elite field due to what local race officials say was a breach of understanding with his agent.

Honolulu Marathon Association president Dr. Jim Barahal said last night that Kamau's decision to compete in the Chicago Marathon Oct. 19 runs afoul of an understanding he had with agent Lisa Buster.

"Our understanding was that he would focus on Honolulu," said Barahal, who said he expected Kamau to compete here as a potential winner.

"When you're dealing with finite (financial) resources, you want to have maximum commitment from your athletes. This is especially important for someone who does not have a history of running in our race."

Kamau has never competed on the Honolulu course. Also considered in the decision to drop Kamau was the short time factor for recovery between optimum efforts in Chicago and Honolulu and the fact that he finished poorly in the Philadelphia Distance Classic (half-marathon) recently.

Kimaiyo's Berlin finish surprised Barahal. "We were told that Kimaiyo would just be in there to pace Lagat," he said.

The 28-year-old African won the hilly, humid 1996 Honolulu Marathon in 2:13:23.

His late-race strategy here last December astonished some observers. Kimaiyo strung together seven straight mile splits of 4 minutes and 49 seconds or less between the 16th and 23rd miles to break the back of several front-runners.

Kimaiyo, whose agent is Gianni DiMadonna, also ran strongly in the London Marathon in January with a time of 2:08:08.

The Lagat-Kimaiyo finish was the fastest 1-2 finish of the year.

Yet another Kenyan, Jimmy Muindi, who finished 14 seconds behind Kimaiyo (2:13:37) in Honolulu and took a brief lead in the Boston Marathon at mile 19 last April, is also back in the field. He clocked 2:12:49 for sixth at Boston.

Defending women's champion Rumila Burangulova of Russia has not committed to return but Barahal indicated that talks are ongoing with the agents for three or four female runners who have even stronger marathon credentials.