1996

It was a bleak and sunless morning with winds gusting to 30 mph - a perfect day for someone to emerge from the icy Russian winter to capture and defeat the strongest field in the 24-year history of the Honolulu Marathon.

It was also a day when yet another unknown Kenyan man would rise to the occasion on the course and pop a surprise finish.

Ramila Burangulova, a 35-year-old mother of one who trains in the frigid shadow of the Ural Mountains, became the Honolulu Marathon's first Russian champion, finishing in 2 hours, 34 minutes, 28 seconds.

If there was any doubt that the Russian women were the hardiest and best prepared for yesterday's chilly winter conditions, Svetlana Vasilyeva laid that question to rest when she came from behind to pull in second in the women's field in 2:35:36.

Eric Kimaiyo, a 27-year-old military enlistee, gave Kenya its seventh win in the race since 1985. Kimaiyo did it by stringing together seven straight mile splits of 4 minutes and 49 seconds or less between the 16th and the 23rd mile. His winning time was 2:13:23.

Another Kenyan, Jimmy Muindi, came in 14 seconds later, following in the wake of Kimaiyo's remarkable late-race surge.

An entry field of 30,824 became a finishing field of 24,427 as Honolulu stepped down as the world's largest marathon and took a third place position in the United States behind Boston (35,888) and New York (28,182).