Posted on: Friday, April 23, 2004

RECREATION
Runners find aloha in Boston

Advertiser Staff

Pete Thalmann, 58, lives in Boston, but just about everyone from Hawai'i who's run the Boston Marathon knows his name.

Since 1996, Thalmann has turned his engineering business office in Hopkinton into what is called the "Hawai'i House," where all Hawai'i runners gather to stay warm, or in the case of Monday's race, stay cool, prior to the race.

"Pete's hospitality would be hard to match even in Hawai'i where we all preach aloha," said Waimanalo's Tim Noonan, who finished Monday's race in 3:29:35. "In fact the door of his house had a big 'aloha' taped to the window."

Thalmann's business, located in a Greek revival-style mansion, is about 200 yards from the starting line and borders the starting chutes.

"Pete is great," said Honolulu's U'i Pauole, who finished Monday's race in 4:01:09.

"He opens his home up, which provides usually a warm place, in this case, a shady place, to hang out before the race and relax ... some place with water and plenty bathrooms; that's really important to the athletes."

Thalmann's love for Hawai'i began when he first visited in 1983.

"It was love at first sight ... with both the land and the people," Thalmann said. "Across America, there is absolutely no equal to the aloha spirit."

In 1996 (Boston's 100th running) a local newspaper ran a story about the large number of Hawai'i runners who were Boston bound.

"I contacted one of the runners and invited them to gather in our office on marathon day. About 40 showed up. We offer a warm, dry gathering and meeting place with, most importantly, four clean and private bathrooms. Each year, old friends return and new friends are made. It's very rewarding."

"He's a real generous guy," said Jonathan Lyau, who has run in two Boston Marathons but didn't compete this year. "He printed out color photos of the year we went up and he mailed it to everyone. There's usually a Hawaiian flag in front, so the Hawai'i people will know.

"The main thing is it makes everyone comfortable being in a warm environment."

Average temperatures during the Boston Marathon is 57 degrees. This year, temperatures were in the 80s.

"As all the runners will attest, our running times are dependent on Pete Thalmann," Noonan said.

Thalmann said he continues to visit the islands "every year or two."

This past January, Thalmann said runner Vi Jones-Medusky "threw a great party for my family and many of the Hawai'i runners attended," he said.

"There goes that aloha spirit again."