Aloha race draws elites, fun-runners

By Scott Ishikawa and Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writers

Rebekah Burbage, left, Teresa Vigro, center, and Matt Garcia made their way along Nimitz Highway in aloha attire during the 19th Annual Great Aloha Run yesterday. More than 18,000 took to the streets for the 8.15-mile run, which began at Aloha Tower and finished at Aloha Stadium.

Some of the more than 18,000 runners in yesterday's 19th annual Great Aloha Run make their way down Nimitz Highway on their way to the finish line at Aloha Stadium.

Rosemary Joyce-Koga, left, worked at a water station on Nimitz Highway. She volunteered with a group from Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Under cool, clear conditions, runners and walkers began the 8.15-mile course from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium to the roar of a cannon at 7 a.m. This year's event, organized by Carole Kai Charities, was expected to raise about $200,000 for local charities.

The overlying theme for this year's run could have been "overcoming adversity."

Second-place finisher Malcolm Campbell, a four-time Great Aloha Run winner, was running despite fracturing two bones in his lower back in a fall last year.

"After that horrible accident, I've learned you shouldn't judge yourself by your past running times, but how you do presently," said the 32-year-old Georgia resident. "I'm just glad to be here today on this beautiful day."

Gerard Ah-Fook, whose right leg was amputated and who has no feeling in his left leg, was the first wheelchair racer to cross the finish line, with an unofficial time of 36 minutes, 25 seconds. "This is the first time I've ever raced by wheelchair," said the 25-year-old former Navy man from Hawai'i Kai. "I've been training for other races, so this is a good sign for me."

Barrie Ehrmentraut, 36, finished the race with her husband, Jeff, in 62 minutes. Barrie gave birth to twins four months ago.

"We live in Aliamanu military housing, so while we were running by our house, I told her, 'We can take a short cut and go home if you want,'" Jeff Ehrmentraut said. "But she really wanted to finish this more than me."

For most of yesterday's participants, the objective was simply to cross the finish line; 16,776 did.

Participants waited at the start line at Aloha Tower wearing colored race tag numbers that symbolized descending order of speed: white, yellow, green and pink.

Wendy Cabral of Kapahulu, running in her second Great Aloha Run, wore a pink tag. "They got promoted, though," said a laughing Cabral, pointing to her son, Matthew, and sister, Michelle Kansaki, both sporting green tags.

Kalid Abdalah of Oakland, Calif., was the first runner to cross the finish line with a time of 39 minutes and 49 seconds.

Abdalah won the Maui Marathon last year. Campbell came in at 40 minutes and 23 seconds.

Cori Mooney of Boise, Idaho, was the first female finisher, with a time of 45 minutes and 52 seconds.

The third-place women's finisher was Cynthia Mauzerall of Boise, Idaho with a time of 48 minutes, 52 seconds.

Correction: Organizers for the Great Aloha Run say there were 18,471 participants in the race and 16,776 people finished the run. A lower number was used in a previous version of this story.