Posted: December 12, 2005

Athletics: Muindi Three-Peats at 33rd Honolulu Marathon

Nurgalieva women's race champion

HONOLULU - (December 11, 2005) - With over 26,000 chasing runners in this tropical paradise, Jimmy Muindi of Kenya handily won his third consecutive Honolulu Marathon (and 5th title overall) in 2 hours and 12 minutes on Sunday morning. Running largely alone for most of the race, Muindi, who set the course record last year, had just over a 3 minute margin on the runner-up and three-time race champion Mbarak Hussein of Albuquerque, N.M.

"It was very hard," Muindi, 32, said of the last 14 miles. "I was going for the record (2:11:12), but it wasn't possible because I was running alone and the clock (on the pace truck) was broken, so I wasn't sure how fast I was moving." Muindi's half-marathon split was 1:05:32.

In the women's race, Olesya Nurgalieva of Russia in her Honolulu Marathon debut also dominated with her 2:30:24 (8th place overall). With her red ponytail bobbing behind her, she led throughout the race. Defending champion Lyubov Morgunova and Alevtina Ivanova of Russia were expected to mount an attack on Nurgalieva's lead mid-race, but this never materialized. Second place was secured by Japan's Eri Hayakawa - the 2003 race champion - who ran this race largely unnoticed.

33rd Honolulu Marathon - Honolulu, HI, Sunday, December 11, 2005

MEN
1) Jimmy Muindi, 32, Kenya, 2:12:00, $20,000
2) Mbarak Hussein, 40, USA / NM, 2:15:06, $10,000
3) Eric Nzioki, 27, Kenya, 2:16:24, $6000
4) Solomon Wachira, 29, Kenya, 2:23:23, $3000
5) Nobuhiko Chiba, 34, Japan, 2:27:32, $1500
6) Kaito Iwayama, 23, Japan, 2:28:53
7) Junichi Kawabata, 30, Japan, 2:30:23
8) Kenichi Shirakata, 27, Japan, 2:30:44
9) Nagamasa Taira, 23, Japan, 2:31:25
10) David Mutua, 28, Kenya, 2:33:22

WOMEN
1) Olesya Nurgalieva, 29, Russia, 2:30:24, $20,000
2) Eri Hayakawa, 24, Japan, 2:32:59, $11,000
3) Alevtina Ivanova, 30, Russia, 2:38:17, $5000
4) Elena Nurgalieva, 29, Russia, 2:38:50, $3000
5) Lyubov Morgunova, 34, Russia, 2:40:47, $1500
6) Ogawa Nina, 30, Japan, 2:41:27
7) Mari Tanigawa, 43, Japan, 2:47:14
8) Atsuko Sugawara, 33, Japan, 2:55:51
9) Mitsuko Hirose, 31, Japan, 2:57:04
10) Kazuyo Nagayama, 25, Japan, 2:58:45

Find more results at: HonoluluMarathon.org.

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
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