It’s that time of year again as Santa’s Christmas elves are hard at work preparing for Big Island’s premier 5K running event that is sure to provide the community with a holly, jolly good time.
This Sunday, hundreds will descend upon Coconut Grove Marketplace for the 12th Annual Jingle Bell Beach Run — a perfect opportunity to jingle, jangle, and blitz your way down historic Alii Drive while donning your favorite holiday ensembles.
Touted as an event the whole family will enjoy — no matter what age or fitness level — as the much anticipated Christmas themed event will once again feature the popular 5K, 1-Mile, and Santa’s Keiki Dash for children ages 6-and-under.
“It’s truly special to see how the event has grown and evolved over the years,” said Kona’s Penn Henderson, co-race organizer of the event. “Much of the credit goes to our amazing volunteers, the generous sponsors, and certainly to the participants and their elaborate holiday costumes. The event has become far more than just a run.”
Henderson added that the crowd pleasing and competitive costume contest is back again — by popular demand — with awards given out to the top three. And this year’s sponsors have once again outdone themselves offering participants amazing prizes for what has become an epic post-race raffle: hotel overnight stays, snorkel cruises, dining certificates, and lots of swag to be given away.
“People go all out for the costume contest — it’s really something to see.” Henderson said. “We’ve had human snowballs, walking candy-canes, and even life-sized Christmas trees out on the course.”
The popular 3.1-mile run/walk will start and finish at Coconut Grove Marketplace offering participants the unique experience of traversing historic Alii Drive – a scenic byway – taking in views of Kailua Bay, Kailua Village and the lush green scenery along the coastline.
For the elite field of runners wishing to test themselves against the clock, a $100 prize is up for grabs to the top male or female that can set new race records.
Last year, Kapaau’s Jared Burris established a new men’s record in a blistering time of 16 minutes and 4 seconds. Two-time women’s champion (2013, 2014), Bridget Pyke of Canada, is the current women’s race record holder with her time of 17:41.
Sunday’s 5K race will once again showcase a competitive field made up of several of our state’s top athletes.
Pahoa’s Billy Barnett will be back for his third attempt at the title and will certainly be pushed by two high school senior athletes in recent BIIF cross-country champion, Cody Ranfranz, and 2014 winner, Ziggy Bartholomy.
The women’s course record holder, Canada’s Bridget Pyke, will once again toe the start line alongside Kona’s Bree Wee, who was last year’s runner up.
This year’s charity recipients will be awarded to Kids’ Matter, a locally based non-profit organization that provides a warm, home-like setting for children who have become victims of abuse, resources for professionals who work with victims, and reaches out to children and their families served by their programs.
Donations are still being accepted for this year’s charity with net proceeds from each hat sale going towards Kid’s Matter up until race day.
So come on out to Coconut Grove Marketplace as all of the holiday fun begins at 7:30 a.m. sharp on Sunday. Online registration is still available today until 3 p.m. It is $35 for the 5K and $15 for the 1-Mile.
Late registration, bib number and timing chip pick up is happening Saturday at Coconut Grove Marketplace from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. There will be no race day registration and the Santa’s Keiki Dash is free for children aged 6-and-under featuring a 100-yard and 200-yard race beginning at 8:30 a.m. For more information visit kona5k.com.
Honolulu Marathon
Over 21,000 runners and walkers were treated to a brilliant display of fireworks, kicking off Sunday’s 44th annual Honolulu Marathon with a bang.
Near perfect conditions of light trades and cool temperatures set the stage for some outstanding performances ending with a new men’s course record for the 26.2-mile footrace.
In his Honolulu Marathon debut, Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono smashed the 12-year old course record with his winning time of 2:09:39. The previous men’s record was set in 2004 at 2:11:12.
The men’s second place finisher and fellow Kenyan, Wilson Chebet, who won the event in 2014, also broke the 2004 record with his time of 2:10:50.
For the women, Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei, won in an amazing time of 2:31:11.
Running in what would be my 11th Honolulu Marathon race, I was happy to cross the finish line with a new personal best time of 3:05:10, placing me 10th female overall and top Big Islander.
I was also honored to receive the prestigious Kama’aina Award — an award given to the first local who is born and raised in the islands to cross the finish line.
Laupahoehoe’s Alan Ryan was the next Big Islander to cross the finish line with his time of 3:12:06, with Kamuela’s Mark Ravaglia and Kona’s Grant Miller finishing in 3:20:27 and 3:23:07, respectively.
Finishing in his 21st consecutive Honolulu Marathon race was Volcano’s Lyman Perry, who despite a complete lack of training, easily cruised through the 26.2-mile course in a time of 3:28:28. Perry’s finish also marks more than 50 completed marathons in his running career. Simply amazing!
Another Big Islander that reached the two-digit mark for the Honolulu Marathon was Kona’s Jon Jokiel.
Jokiel, who has a personal marathon best of 2:49, decided to run in the annual event just two months after finishing October’s IRONMAN World Championships. Jokiel crossed his 20th Honolulu Marathon finish line in 3:28:53.
Congratulations to all who finished Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon!
Coming Up
Sunday: Team Mango Races will host the Journey-2-LaLa Land hill climb race for cyclists and runners at Lako Street across from the Chevron Gas Station. Start time for the 17-mile quad buster is 8 a.m. for cyclists with runners given an earlier start time of 6 a.m. For registration details and more information visit teammangoraces.com.