Aloha winners sprint to wins

By Mike Tymn
Special to The Advertiser

The Great Aloha Run — from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium — drew about 21,000 runners and walkers.- Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Lyau, 37, outkicked Simon, 46, for a two-second victory in the 18th annual Great Aloha Run yesterday morning, covering the 8.15-mile race from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium in 42 minutes, 43 seconds.

"I've had hamstring problems recently and was a little worried about it holding up, but I didn't hesitate when I started to kick," said Lyau, who also won the race in 1994. "Fortunately, it didn't bother me."

Bob Dickie, a 27-year-old Air Force officer, finished third, 44 seconds behind Simon.

The women's race also came down to a finishing sprint as Nina Christensen, 27, pulled away from Lisa Blomme, 24, with about 400 yards remaining to score a six-second victory. Christensen finished in 48:17.

Yang Sun Carpenter, 37, was third, 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind Blomme.

"We planned to run together most of the way," said Christensen, who is from Denmark and is attending Hawai'i Pacific University on a cross-country scholarship. Blomme, from Sweden, is also an HPU student and cross-country runner.

While Lyau and Simon didn't get the word on their age limitations, defending champion Malcolm Campbell didn't get the word on the starting time.

Campbell had assumed the race started at 7 a.m., as in past years. Yesterday's race started 15 minutes earlier.

As a result, Campbell arrived late and started the race nearly five minutes after the gun went off. While he crossed the finish line ninth in 44:44, his watch showed that he had run 39:56, a time that would have put him more than a half-mile ahead of Lyau. The race record of 39:08 was set by Rex Wilson of New Zealand in 1987.

"I ran the first mile in 4:29 while zig-zagging in and out of runners," said Campbell, a 31-year-old native of Scotland who lives in Atlanta, Ga. He was seeking his fifth consecutive victory after winning in 40:30 last year.

Lyau: Two-second victory in men's race

Christensen: Six-second win in women's

Some 21,000 runners and walkers participated in the event, which benefits many local charities. Lyau, Simon, and Naji Abdeslam, a 36-year-old HPU student, shared the lead at the mile mark, reached in 5:03.

Abdeslam fell off the pace on the third mile and was overtaken by Dickie on the sixth mile, eventually finishing fourth.

Lyau and Simon passed the three-mile mark in 15:03 and five miles in 25:42. The duel continued through the parking lot of Aloha Stadium. Lyau, who won the '94 race in 42:23, got the jump on Simon just before they entered the passageway to the stadium infield.

"I knew he had a good kick and I tried to get away from him twice on the last mile, but he wouldn't let me open any kind of gap," said Simon, a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant. "There were too many turns near the end for me."

Simon won last year's Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., in 2:28:28. He is believed to be the oldest person ever to win a marathon.

Christensen and Blomme worked together and shared the lead throughout the women's race. "My goal was just to stay with Nina as long as I could," said Blomme. "I was surprised I was able to stay with her as long as I did."

The women's record of 45:22, set by Gail Kingma of Seattle in 1987, was never in jeopardy. When Wilson and Kingma set the existing records, the course was 8.25 miles, a tenth of a mile longer than the current race distance.

Ed Cadman, dean of the University of Hawai'i medical school, was impressive in winning the 55-59 division with a time of 51:07, more than four minutes ahead of former Olympian Gerry Lindgren.