1987

In weather conditions that were hardly suited to running 26.2 miles, Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya won the 15th Honolulu Marathon yesterday.

Hussein, 29, finished in 2 hours, 18 minutes, 26 seconds to win the event for the third year in a row.

He beat Gidamis Shahanga of Tanzania by nearly a quarter of a mile. Shahanga, 30, finished in 2:19:36, but said: "That was a 2:09 or 2:10 effort. The wind was bad."

Carla Beurskens of The Netherlands won the women's division for the third consecutive year. Beurskens, 35, finished in 2:35:11, a margin of 800 yards over Lisa Weidenbach, 26, of Redmond, Wash.

Beurskens suffered an ankle injury before the start of the race and did not threaten her 2:31:01 record of last year.

Hussein also was well off his race record of 2:11:43, set last year under much more favorable conditions. "The wind was the worst part," he said after finishing yesterday. "The rain was no problem."

8,500 starters braved the elements in the worst conditions ever for the marathon. A winter storm brought heavy rains and strong winds gusting up to 35 to 40 mph. The wheelchair race was canceled due to flooding.