Kona Marathon Runs 2012

Another successful Kona Marathon is in the books! For the third year in a row, Big Island Running Company's training group was well-represented in all race distances from the 5k to the full marathon.  And the weather could not have been any better - after downpours the night before, it was nice and cool and, most importantly, overcast.

We have tons of pictures from these races, since Jason wasn't able to run. There are going to be a lot in this post, but more photos are available here. Full results from the races are available here. Also, special thanks to Mizuno for donating the race shirts for our group and to Dominos' in Kona for donating some pizzas for our post-race party.

The full marathoners headed off at 5:30 a.m., just as the sun was starting to rise.  The course runs along Alii Drive, out to Kona Commons, onto the Queen Kaahumanu Highway, down to the Natural Energy Lab and back.  Here are a couple of training partners as the headed in to the finish - all with great times!

Don Kirby

Leonard Torricer

Danny Jesser

At 6:00 a.m., it was time for the half marathoners to take to the road.  Their course was the same as the full, but turned around at Kona Commons and headed back to Keauhou.

Here are some shots of our group members in action:

Mike DeCarli and Chris Prater

John Ferdico

Chico

Abra Pintor

Gabby Hurtado

Gemma Pytel

Nori and Danny Becker

Kym Tagawa, Jen McCord, and Matt Sutherland

Lee-Ann Heely and Christine DeCarli

Diane Quitiquit

Laura Bollman

Chitwin San Tun and Me

Ali Steiner

Jenny Payne

Kevin Prater - with the Perpetual Pea!

The 10k took off at 6:45 a.m. and the 5k followed at 6:50 a.m.  We were able to get some pictures of the 10k finishers, but not the 5k.

Maggie Leite

Becky Prater

Paul Incardona

Andrea Cobb

Congratulations to all of the finishers! After the race, it was time for a little relaxing party at Kahaluu Beach.  We had tons of great food and got to award some prizes to our group members.  Before the race, each group member was invited to guess their finish time and the person who got the closest to their time won a prize.  And the winners were:

Marathon - Leonard Torricer (guessed 3:50 and finished in 3:54:11)
Half Marathon - Orestes Barrios (guessed 1:37:00 and finished in 1:36:39)
10K - Mercedes DeCarli (guessed 49:45 and finished in 49:59)
5K - Makena Becker (guessed 35:00 and finished in 33:06)

We hope everyone keeps up with the running! Our group runs will continue, with the next big race being the Volcano Rain Forest Runs.  See you out on the roads!