Wednesday, December 8, 1999
Marathon marches
to millennium
As many as 27,000 are expected to
By Pat Bigold
run in the Honolulu Marathon
on Sunday
Star-BulletinDr. Jim Barahal was thinking about Franklin D. Roosevelt the other day.
"I've reached 13 years as president of the Honolulu Marathon Association, and that's as long as FDR's term," said Barahal with a laugh. "But he died in office."
The 47-year-old Barahal is far from ready to even retire as he ushers the world's third largest marathon into the new millennium.
A projected field of 25,000 to 27,000 will mass at 5 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Ala Moana and Queen Street Extension for the 27th edition of the Honolulu Marathon. The course, as always, will run through downtown, Waikiki, across Diamond Head, out to Hawaii Kai and back.
As of yesterday, the field would break down this way: 48 percent from Japan, 32.2 percent from Hawaii, 16.4 percent from the U.S. mainland and 3.4 percent from Canada and other countries.
"We'll do this as long as we enjoy it," said Barahal, referring to the organizational miracle he and a close-knit staff pull off every year.
One million nine hundred fifty thousand cups, 3,750 traffic cones, 125,000 pounds of ice cubes, 225 police officers, 9,453 volunteers, 2,325 no parking signs, 70,000 sponges and sundry other necessities come into play.
The litany of Barahal's race week responsibilities seems endless and daunting.
Undamming a river of humanity in the predawn darkness upon the city requires that every barrier, every aid station, every security checkpoint, and every volunteer be in the right position.
Lives are at stake and, as a doctor, Barahal is more sensitive to that than many of the world's race gurus.
He has been known to board a motorcycle late on marathon day to check on the condition of stragglers, sometimes talking them into quitting the course for their own safety.
As the race field has grown from 10,413 in 1987 to a peak of 33,682 in 1997, Barahal has relied on the support of fellow Michigan alumnus Jon Cross, D.D.S., who has been the race director since 1987, and logistical technicians Ronald and Jeannette Chun.
Barahal said the Chuns have been the unsung heroes of the race operation for 21 years, usually working from their home. They function year-round in a nuts-and-bolts capacity and Barahal said it's almost impossible to completely list their duties.
So important have the Chuns been to the perpetuity of the Honolulu Marathon that they were inducted into the race's hall of fame last year.
"When the Chuns retire, the unemployment rate in Hawaii will drop substantially because it will take so many people to replace them," said Barahal.
Barahal and Cross took over the Honolulu Marathon after spending three years as elite athlete coordinators.
The marathon had often attracted big-name runners during the 1970s (Frank Shorter, Jeff Galloway, Don Kardong). But they came on their own and usually made no commitment to race all-out.
Barahal and Cross were the first to recruit and pay to secure commitments for highly competitive men's and women's fields. They also installed substantial and equal prize purses for both fields.
The basic purse (1st through 5th) for each field is now $32,000.
Course record bonuses and time incentive bonuses amount to a potential $122,000 for each field.
The race developed a reputation for bringing in young runners on the verge of a breakthrough.
South African Josiah Thungwane, who won the 1995 race, won the marathon gold medal at Atlanta. Bong Ju Lee, the 1993 winner, took silver behind Thungwane at Atlanta.
Two Honolulu Marathon alumni from Kenya, Ibrahim Hussein (winner 1985-1987) and two-time runner-up Cosmas Ndeti, went on to win the prestigious Boston Marathon three times each.
Honolulu Marathon
