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Sports Notebook
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HONOLULU MARATHON
Alueta deposes Lyau as kamaaina champ
Joe Alueta was impressed when he accepted the perpetual trophy for men's kamaaina winner at yesterday's Honolulu Marathon.
"Man, your name's all over this," Alueta said to Jonathan Lyau, who had won it the previous 12 times.
Alueta, 37, from Wailuku, also won a trip to a marathon in Japan with a time of 2 hours, 42 minutes, 58 seconds yesterday. He was 24th among the men.
Alueta said it was his first marathon in three years.
"I put on like 30 pounds," he said. "I needed to get back in shape."
Lyau, 41, said he had a frustrating day -- and year -- of running. He was 35th among the men at 2:45:57.
"This was the year I was least prepared," Lyau said. "I was sick two weeks ago and there have been a lot of family and business things going on."
Casper Dahl, 24, a Hawaii Pacific cross-country runner from Denmark, was the first to finish in the resident category. He was 22nd among the males, finishing in 2:42:20.
With her trademark cartwheel, Honolulu's Jeannie Wokasch Young was the first female Hawaii resident to cross the finish line. Wokasch Young, who ran the race in support of the Pacific Autism Center, finished in a time of 3:08:43 and in 19th place.
"I was in a cruise mode," Wokasch Young said. "My goal was trying to finish the race to raise that money for those kids."
The first kamaaina among the women was Mililani's Emmie Saigusa, 27, who ended with a time of 3:43:49. She shaved 13:04 off of her time from last year.
Good times roll: It was 11 years ago when a massive piece of sheet metal fell on Masazumi Soejima of Japan, taking away the use of his legs.
Yesterday the 35-year-old became a course-record holder when he broke the wheelchair division mark with a 1:30:32 effort. The previous record was 1:31:34 by Krige Schabort, a Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame member who placed third. Kurt Fearnley of Australia was second in 1:33:47. Wakako Tsuchida of Japan won the women's wheelchair division with a final time of 2:02:61.
Running across America: She started her quest two years ago, and yesterday, her dream was realized. At age 48, Marie Bartoletti of Finleyville, Pa., completed the Honolulu Marathon, the final stage in her goal to run a marathon in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
"I thought maybe I could do it in three years, by the time I'm 50," Bartoletti said. "But after I charted it out, I figured out I could do it in two years."
Bartoletti said she has run 54 marathons in the last two years, including one in each state and a few abroad. This year alone, she has completed 31 marathons, and kept up with an exhausting pace of 13 straight weeks running at least one.
In Honolulu, she finished in a time of 4:14:02, running on a paced time. Her personal best was 3:41 in the 2003 Boston Marathon.
The elementary-school teacher said she has a map of the United States in her classroom, and she had her students become involved with her journey by coloring in every state, one by one, as she ran there.
Bartoletti's image was on the front of a Wheaties box when she was selected as one of six nationwide winners of the Wheaties "Search for the Everyday Champion" in 2001.
Luau feet: Lopaka Loke of Pearl City completed his seventh Honolulu Marathon, all of which he has run barefoot and in Hawaiian costume.
"Basically I do this for my heritage," said the 44-year-old Navy mechanic, who was dressed as an ancient Hawaiian fisherman, complete with spear.
In past years he ran as Kamehameha and as a canoe paddler.
"I want to thank my wife, Cathy," Loke said. "She makes my costumes."
Ken Iwasaki, 58, of Honolulu, ran his fifth barefoot marathon. He is part Maori and dressed to celebrate that heritage, complete with face-paint and a spear.