1978

Patti Lyons busted across the finish line and moments later fell into the arms of her mother Freda, who swept her up with kisses, wild shouts and cheers.

"I did it," yelled the sweat-soaked, 25-year-old Massachusetts runner.

Yesterday Lyons was the first woman to cross the Kapiolani Park finish line in the sixth annual Honolulu Marathon, setting a record for women at 2 hours, 43 minutes, 9 seconds - shaving 95 seconds off last year's time. There was a field of about 1,500 women in the more than 7,000-person race. It was the second-largest marathon in history and the largest number of women ever assembled for a long-distance race.

"You've got it," yelled someone in the crowd as the first finisher, tall, lanky Don Kardong of Spokane, Wash., flashed across the finish line in another record-setting time. Following a personal mandate that he "never look back," Kardong finished in two hours, 17 minutes and four seconds, a time that was a full minute ahead of Atlanta's Benji Durden and eclipsed by 20 seconds the Honolulu Marathon record set by New Zealand's Jack Foster in 1975.

It was not surprising. If ever there was a day for breaking records, Marathon Sunday 1978 was it. The 6 a.m. start, moved back a half hour from last year, lessened the chances of heat prostration. And then the sun failed to show, kept at bay by overcast skies, while a brisk wind kicked up early on and prevailed throughout.