Big Isle’s Tanimoto makes breakthrough

Rani Tanimoto resisted the temptation to slow to a stroll, and it helped her to the championship of the women's Kamaaina division of the Honolulu Marathon yesterday.

The Big Island resident finished 283rd overall and 26th among women in 3 hours, 17 minutes and 49 seconds. It was the first victory in the local division in five Honolulu races for the 31-year-old from Kealakekua.

"My goal was to keep running because in the past I would start to walk," Tanimoto, a behavioral health therapist, said after the trophy presentation. "I kept telling myself to keep going.

"As I was going up Diamond Head, I kept telling myself to keep going, the finish is close. It was a nice day, with a little bit of a wind. But it couldn't have been better. It was good," she said. "I was a bit surprised. Actually somebody came and told me, 'I think you got it.' "

Tanimoto has been running for nine years.

Lyau back on top: Jonathan Lyau reclaimed the top Kamaaina spot for men, winning his 13th title and placing 41st among the men.

"Anytime you finish a marathon, it feels good. I feel relieved that everything went all right," said the 42-year-old Honolulu resident, who won his first Kamaaina trophy when he was 28. "I finished, and didn't have to walk."

Lyau had won the division for 12 straight years before losing for the first time in 2005.

A father of two children, Lyau, who completed the course in 2:48:36, said he doesn't do much for training except run every day. The candy wholesale distributor and running coach said he will continue entering the marathon as long as he stays healthy.

"I enjoy it, and it has become like a habit," he said. "But I'm getting older and it is getting real tough now."

Rolling along: In the wheelchair division, Masazumi Soejima of Japan dominated the competition with a 1:29:22 finish. Krige Schabort of Georgia finished second in 1:37:42 and Korea's Byung Hoon Yoo was third in 1:47:53.

John Greer, a 42-year-old from Kaneohe now living in Kalama Valley, won the local division of the men's wheelchair race, placing sixth overall in 2:30:11.

"I struggled a little with the conditions," Greer said about headwinds he faced during most of the course. "But I'm real happy and I look forward to next year."

The victory was the second division title for Greer, who has been in a wheelchair since he suffered a car accident in 1984. He last won the event in 1985.

"To win it again feels very rewarding," he said.