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Kalakaua Merrie Mile Race Preview


Saturday December 10th is the first installment of the annual Kalakaua Merrie Mile. The Honolulu Marathon Board made sure that there wasn't any shortage of talent-inviting five athletes from the recent Rio Olympics.

**Note** The turn around point may make it hard for men's elites to run a fast time.

Men:

On the Men's side, the race will presumably be led by Will Leer. Will holds the fastest personal best of 3:51.82 which he set two years ago in 2014. Since then he has had a couple tough seasons but still looks to take home the win-and $3,500 of the $6,000 purse.

Behind him, Canadian Nate Brannen holds the next fastest PR of 3:52.63. Brannen is coming off of a strong season in which he finished 10th in the final of the 1500 in Rio. Based on the preview of the field, he poses the most threat to Leer however, the strong inter-national talent in the race will prove to be interesting.

The rest of the men's line-up is filled by Hamish Carson (New Zealand,) Mason Ferlic (US,) and Edwin Kiptoo (Kenya.) Carson holds the third fastest PR of 3:56.72 and has consistently been lowering his times for the past four years. Ferlic was the 2016 NCAA steeplechase champion and is currently on the verge of breaking the four minute barrier (which he hopes to do in this race / PR- 4:00.50.) And Edwin Kiptoo is still a junior under IAAF standings-being only 18 years old (U20)-he has yet to acquire a seed time for the race but he holds a 1500m PR of 3:38.30 which when converted to the standard mile, predicts well under four minutes.

Women:

The Women's race (opposed to the usual way of things) will be contested at the same time as the Men. They will receive a 27 second head start and will try to not to be "run down" by the Men; the first person to cross the finish line (man or woman) will win the grand prize of $3,500.

The two fastest runners in the Women's race are Aisha Praught of Jamaica (recently married to Will Leer) and Nicole Sifuentes of Canada. Both athletes represented their country in Rio this year however both hold marks of either the 1500 or mile faster than the other person. In the 1500, Praught holds a best of 4:05.52, slower than Sifuentes' time of 4:03.97. In the mile, Praught ran a 4:27.61 to top Nicole's 4:27.93. This imbalance between the two distances will make for an unpredictable yet interesting race tomorrow as the two will battle to become the winner of the first Kalakaua Mile.

Three other athletes will also be contesting for the title. University of Michigan teammates Erin Finn and Shannon Osika will try chase down fast PRs with Osika holding a best 12 seconds ahead of Finn (4:28.45 to 4:40.38.) Both were invited to the US Olympic trials this year with Osika placing 14th in the 1500 in 4:18.27 while Finn dropped out of the 10k. Finally, South African Olympian Dominique Scott-Efurd will try the shorter distance which she already holds a time of 4:31.57 in, after her 21st place finish at the Rio Olympics in which she ran a personal best time of 31:51.47.

Overall, the first innaugaural Kalakaua Merrie Mile shows a stacked field and predicts fast times all around. The conditions for the race should be more than prime as cloud coverage will do away with the usual Hawaiian sun on Oahu. Since the race is early around 7 am, rain should not be a problem; however the weather is unpredictable as it has been raining on and off for the past two weeks.

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