Rumila Burangulova won a battle with fellow Russian Svetlana
Vasilyeva to capture the Honolulu Marathon's women's race.

It was also a day when yet another unknown Kenyan man would rise to the occasion on the course and pop a surpise finish.

Rumila Burangulova, a 35-year-old mother of one who trains in the frigid shadow of the Ural Mountains, became the Honolulu Marathon's first Russian champion, finishing in 2 hours, 34 minutes, 28 seconds.

"She prefers this kind of weather," said Burangulova's agent and interpreter, Sergei Talolenko.

Eric Kimaiyo, a 27-year-old military enlistee, gave Kenya its seventh win in the race since 1985. Kimaiyo did it by stringing together seven straight mile splits of 4 minutes and 49 seconds or less between the 16th and the 23rd mile. His time was 2:13:23.

An entry field of 30,824 became a finishing field of 24,427 as Honolulu stepped down as the world's largest marathon and took a third place position in the United States behind Boston (35,868) and New York (28,182).

The women's race was close all the way. Above, Carla Beurskens
of the Netherlands, glasses, Mi-Ja Oh of Korea, 15, and Svetlana
Vasilyeva of Russia battle for position in the early morning
darkness. Beurskens and Vasilyeva would share the lead often.

They were prisoners of the punishing wind and of their respect for each other's ability to break the race open.

Their numbers dwindled to five on Kalanianaole Highway. When they reached mile 21, an overlooked Japanese entry, Mari Tanigawa, threw a move on the remaining women and tried to take off.

But Burangulova then decided to do what she'd wanted to do for miles.

She surged confidently forward to leave the field far behind. If there was any doubt that the Russian women were the hardiest and best prepared for yesterday's chilly winter conditions, Svetlana Vasilyeva laid that question to rest when she came from behind to pull in second behind Burangulova.

Vasilyeva came across in 2:35:36.

Associated Press
Eric Kimaiyo of Kenya was the men's winner.

"It was when the wind started to be at their backs that Rumila made her move," said Talolenko who is also an agent for eight National Hockey League players and played for Russia's World Cup golf team.

Among the women who dropped off the pace in the late stages of the race were eight-time champion Carla Beurskens of Holland and Korean Mi-Ja Oh, both of whom led the pack at various intervals.

Also broken by the relentless determination of the Russians were Poland's Aniela Nikiel, who stayed with the leaders until Kealaolu Road, and Tanigawa, who briefly took the lead at mile 21.

In the men's race, Kimaiyo completely broke from a four-man pack at mile 21, breaking the will of Korean Kim Yi Yong.

He was in the midst of his remarkable late-race explosion. From mile 16, he clocked 4:42, 4:41, 4:40, 4:50, 4:49, 4:43 and 4:49.

So devastating was the intensity of

Kimaiyo's surge that one rival, Lazarus Nyakeraka, not only fell off the pace but wound up 32 seconds behind Burangulova.

"It was the finest bit of racing I've seen here since Ibrahim Hussein set the course record in 1986," said Honolulu Marathon Association president Dr. Jim Barahal.

"The duration and intensity of the surge was a surprise, but it took that to get rid of the others who were really in shape."

Hundreds of runners stream down Kilauea Avenue
toward Kokohead.

Kimaiyo beat Muindi by 14 seconds.

"I'm happy about the fact we had two real races," said Barahal. "For the first time since 1985, we did not have defending champions back (1996 Olympic gold medalist Josiah Thungwane and Colleen DeReuck, both of South Africa). So we built fairly large and deep fields in the hope that they would go out there and race each other. And they did. We had people running in large packs, racing, lead changes and outstanding performances in the end."