MARATHON NOTEBOOK
Schabort wins sixth wheelchair title in row
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Krige Schabort of Cedartown, Ga., won his sixth consecutive Honolulu Marathon wheelchair division race, beating out Kelly Smith of Canada by one second.
Schabort finished in 1 hour, 32 minutes, 52 seconds.
Wakako Tsuchida of Japan won the women's division in 1:53:49, and Bong Ho Lee of Kailua, Kona, finished seventh overall in 1:48:29 and was the first Hawai'i finisher.
Hartnett keeps pace
Josh Hartnett, star of "Pearl Harbor," rode in the pace car that stayed with the male leaders.
"This is my first cup of coffee," he said at 7:30 a.m. "Being in the pace car, I couldn't drink anything this morning. Now I'm gonna feel guilty if I eat a donut."
Hartnett said he came down because he was invited by Hunter S. Thompson, an ESPN.com Page 2 columnist and author of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," a good friend of Hartnett. Hartnett also said his dad was a marathoner.
"It was unbelievable to see these world-class athletes," Hartnett said. "It surpassed all my expectations. I was surprised at all the drama."
Hartnett arrived in Hawai'i Friday and leaves today.
In honor of Mom
Grant Crowell, a 33-year-old Hawai'i native who lives in Chicago, decided on Saturday to run the marathon in honor of his mother, Nani, who died Dec. 7 of massive blood clotting in the brain.
Nani Crowell, 61, was training to run and walk the 26.2 mile course before she died.
Grant, who hadn't run or worked out in almost three months, ran the race with his sister Tracy, and finished in 4:10.
He did not formally register for the race, but he and his sister switched turns wearing his mother's number.
"It was very painful," Crowell said.
AIDS Marathon Training
Roy Coleman, 35, of Jacksonville, Fla., and Katie Dufficy, 22, of Napa Valley, Calif., were part of a group of about 2,000 runners with the San Francisco and Los Angeles AIDS Marathon Training Program.
"Seeing the different runners with the shirts just helped so much," Dufficy said, of the runners in the program who wore matching yellow shirts. "The camaraderie in the group was amazing."
Coleman said: "The inspiration you get from other runners is what drives you."
Youth on the rise
Eleven-year-old Borys Pleskacz of Honolulu was second in the 14-and-under division, and 1152nd overall.
Pleskacz described his second marathon as "killer." He finished in 3:47:24, after finishing last year in just under four hours.
"It felt easy in the beginning, and it got harder and harder," he said. "But I never quit."
Rio Sato, 9, from Hawai'i, finished in 12:01:43, and was the youngest competitor in the race.
Stopped on a dime
Bryan Davis of Chesapeake, Va., who paid for his trip by collecting money he found on the road — totalling 823.12 over the past 12 years — finished in 3:51:31.
Since arriving in Hawai'i on Dec. 5, Davis has found 15 cents, and he "saw a dime today, but didn't stop and pick it up."
Advertiser Staff Writer Peter Boylan contributed to this report.
