~ by Kawika Carlson
The 30th Annual Great Aloha Run was held on President’s Day – Monday Feb. 17, 2014. Over 16,000 finishers on the 8.15 mile course from the Great Aloha Tower to a finish inside the Aloha Stadium.
Thomas Puzey cruises to his first victory at the Great Aloha Run. ~ photo; Hawaii News Now
Thomas Puzey from Flagstaff, Arizona, a former Oahu resident who has previously finished in the Top 5 several times, finally broke through with a win this year. His winning time of 43:02 was over a minute faster than runner-up Leandro Santillan (44:14) from Argentina. 3rd place went to Kevin Miller (44:18) from Boise, Idaho, and the first local finisher was Nate Carlson (44:43) in 4th place place overall. Nate is a former GAR winner, and was recently married to this year’s women’s winner Polina Babkina Carlson (49:13) who has been dominating local races recently. Runner-up and teammate, Natasha Kravchuk (49:50) was last years winner. Lindsey Wilbur (51:57) from Kihei, Maui rounded out a Hawaiian sweep of the Top 3 places.
Top 3 Women. ~ photo: courtesy of Facebook/ Polina Carlson
Nate Carlson coaches Champion Running Group on Thursday nights 5:30pm at Ala Moana Park and everyone is welcome. In addition to Polina and Natasha, some of his their top runners include: Tommy Sands (49:24) 26th, Kengo Yoshimoto (50:42) 38th, and Yuko Nakai (56:46) 1st in AG. You can find out more about their group here: http://championrunning.blogspot.com/
The top Military finishers were Val Curtis (54:14) from Mililani and Marty Muchow (45:59) from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Marty is another former Oahu resident, who at the age of 48 pulled off a terrific performance finishing 6th overall. Jon Lyau (47:17) at the age of 49 landed back in the Top 10 this year with a 7th place Elite finish and 9th overall behind two military runners. His 30th consecutive year of running this race, despite a serious knee injury several years ago. Other tremendous performances were turned in by master runner and UH professor Joseph Bariyanga (48:17) at the age of 58 in 13th place overall, and by the youngster Jacob DeWald (49:02) from Mililani who is but 16 years old.
Jon Lyau lands back in the Top 10 in his 30th Great Aloha Run.
Jon Lyau coaches his group, Personal Best Training on Tuesday nights 5:30pm at Ala Moana Park near the tennis courts. Everyone is welcome to their group training sessions. For more information, please go to: http://personalbesttraininghi.com/
Juan Romero finishes first in his age group and 14th place overall in his first GAR.
Kukini Run Club had several runners participate in the race and were led by a strong finish from Juan Romero (48:24) who was first place in his age group and 14th overall. Juan is a grad student and teacher assistant at University of Hawaii and recently started training with the group to get back in shape. He was a former outstanding runner in college at CBU – California Baptist University. Mariah Gosling (1:01:28) was the group’s top women finisher. She was 3rd place in her age group and 48th woman overall. Mariah has been training with the group to improve her speed and it looks like it’s starting to pay off. A Senior at Kalani High School is the reigning Miss Teen Hawaii with high ambitions. Other group runners who did well in their age group include: Ron Higashi (1:02:33) 41st, Daniel Lum (1:05:22) 24th, Andrea Wong (1:07:28) 16th, Angela Sy (1:08:28) 9th, Cindy Berkoski (1:08:59) 25th, Loren McMillen (1:10:40) 30th, Mike McMillen (1:12:35) 102nd, and Vondi Irwin (1:47:24) 397. Outstanding performances considering there were hundreds, even thousands of runners in each division. Everyone finished in the top half of their age group!
For more information on the group, please check on this site or on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KukiniHawaii
KUKINI 