The Hawaiian Telcom Great Aloha Run saw its first race fatality in its 25-year history yesterday when a 58-year-old male runner was found alone after the race, dead of an apparent heart attack.

The man was not identified but was described by Honolulu firefighters as an Asian male.

"It's an unfortunate incident," race director Carol Jaxon said. "We're hoping the rest of our runners had a good experience."

Even before the runner was discovered unconscious, an elite female runner collapsed at the finish line and was taken to a hospital in what appeared to be ideal conditions for the Aloha Tower-to-Aloha Stadium 8.1-mile race/walk.

The first runners to finish the race said the temperatures were cool, with some wind but almost no rain.

"It was perfect weather, with a little headwind," said Navy Lt. Steve Slaby, 28, of 'Aiea, who won the military men's division with a time of 42:45. "It was beautiful."

A "medical spotter" from a sports medical clinic set up in the stadium by Kaiser Permanente saw the dead runner next to a women's bathroom, near the Anuenue snack stand and in front of parking section 2A.

The man was in a spot just outside the stadium — right after runners received bottled water and bananas and just before they picked up their Great Aloha Run T-shirts.

"There were numerous people there, but she spotted the person who didn't look quite right," Jaxon said.

The spotter asked a female runner seated next to the man whether she was with him and whether he was all right.

The man was apparently alone, Jaxon said, and the woman told the spotter "'I think he's just sleeping.'"

The spotter then shook the man's shoulder "and realized something was wrong and called the medical director," Jaxon said.

The spotter began cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was relieved by someone who teaches CPR, Jaxon said.

"There were many people standing around, but we were fortunate our spotter was there and someone there who actually teaches CPR could take over," Jaxon said.

No one was with the man when firefighters and paramedics took him away in an ambulance shortly after 10 a.m.

Dr. Jim Barahal, the president of the much longer Honolulu Marathon, said yesterday that the marathon has had three deaths in its 36-year history, with the last coming in 2002.

In 2006, another Honolulu Marathon runner went into full cardiac arrest at the finish line and fell into the arms of a cardiologist. He was revived with a defibrillator, which Barahal believes is a first in the history of marathon racing.

Deaths among race participants "is the biggest concern by far, absolutely," Barahal said. "It's what any race director of a large event spends the most time on and loses the most sleep over. It's a huge, huge concern."

Runners fill out liability waivers and race directors make sure there are plenty of fluids, medical personnel and course marshals on hand because "the ultimate goal of any organization is to get people home safely," Barahal said.

As the elite runners cross the finish line of the Honolulu Marathon each year, someone always tries to shake Barahal's hand but his worries don't end for several more hours.

"I'm always saying, 'The race isn't over yet.' I don't really rest until the last person's across," Barahal said. "It's an almost unspeakable tragedy at the human level. At the Honolulu Marathon, we never get over it" when a runner dies.

All of yesterday's winners in the various Great Aloha Run men's, women's, military and wheelchair divisions apparently were first-time participants in the event, organizer Donna Fouts said.

Brian Lindberg, a 24-year-old Hawai'i Pacific University master's candidate from Denmark, won yesterday's men's division with a time of 42:21 and called the race "amazing."

"I've never seen anything like this," Lindberg said after he was awarded first place, which comes with a koa bowl and $1,000.

Lindberg runs on the HPU cross-country team and raced out in front of the pack with HPU teammate Danny Malley, 37, and Lt. Slaby.

"It was perfect weather, not too hot," Lindberg said.

They ran as a group until nearly three miles before the finish line when Lindberg sprinted ahead and into Aloha Stadium alone.

Running into the stadium "was a great feeling," Lindberg said, "especially when you finish first."

For most of yesterday's 20,582 runners and walkers, however, the Great Aloha Run represented a personal goal, a chance to spend time with family or simply an excuse to get some exercise.

Nancy Fujino, who described herself as a senior citizen from Kalihi Valley, swore she would never participate after her knee failed her in the 2007 race.

"She said, 'Never again,' " said Fujino's daughter, Tammy.

But Fujino and her friend, Pearl Arrington, each bought high-tech walking poles for $95 that look like blunt-end ski poles and nudged and poked their way across the finish line yesterday.

"I have a bad knee, and my knee would never have tolerated it without these," Fujino said, holding up her lightweight poles.

She and Arrington saw about 30 other elderly walkers using the same poles, "even though we had to walk behind all the strollers," Arrington said.

That would have put them right behind parents like Ryan and Val Okimoto of Mililani Mauka, who carried and sometimes pushed their 13-month-old daughter, Rebekah, in her stroller.

When they finally got inside the stadium, the Okimotos had little Rebekah walk across the finish line on her own.

"It's a good family experience," Ryan said.

For young runners like Jakob DeWald, yesterday's Great Aloha Run represented a coming of age.

Jakob, an 11-year-old, sixth-grader at Mililani Middle School, not only came in under an hour with a time of 56:08, but beat his father, Steve, for the first time.

"Yeah," Steve said, slapping his son on the back, "he took it to me."