Kenya’s Paul Lonyangata, Cynthia Limo take Honolulu Marathon titles
HONOLULU — Throughout Sunday’s 51st Honolulu Marathon, the first such distance race of Cynthia Limo’s career, the Kenyan held true to the words of her late coach and mentor.
Afterward Limo, crowned with the haku lei of a victor, recalled them one more time.
“He promised me that before the year ends, you’re going to run a marathon,” Limo, 33, said afterward of Owen Anderson, who died in November after a battle with cancer. “Since the beginning of this year, he has been looking for marathons for me to make sure that I get a marathon.
“As soon as he was sick in the hospital, he kept on encouraging me and telling me that, ‘Cynthia, you are strong. You are strong. You are going to make it.’ And today, during my debut, I was memorizing what he was telling me and memorizing everything he passed on to me. That allowed me to get strong and to run this Honolulu Marathon … and (it was) the best race for me today.”
On a still, sticky morning of 82% humidity, Paul Lonyangata and Limo claimed the men’s and women’s titles in a sweep for Kenya.
