Congratulations on finishing the 14th edition of our annual Kauai Full and Half Marathon! The weather was ideal this year as we had cooler temperatures, nice trade winds and a little rain to keep everyone refreshed!
The day began very early at Poipu Shopping Village for our pre-race gathering. Kauai Coffee was present as they brewed and served their wonderful, locally grown coffee. We offered yogurts, bananas, and few baked goods for those that wanted a little something before burning all of those calories.
Our aid stations throughout the course were loaded with Powerade, Menehune Water and plenty of ice. We even provided Gu this year at 3 of the aid stations to help get through the tough miles. The on-course entertainment by award winning Hālau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leinā’ala was really outstanding and we hope it provided some extra motivation and a distraction from the hills and humidity.
The community of Kauai came out in full force to cheer you on. They were out in their front yards cheering loudly and enthusiastically as always. Many were handing out homemade goodies, bacon, beer, candy, and fruit. There were even neighbors spraying people with a hose to cool them off! It’s always awesome to see so many folks from the island embracing all of you- clapping and cheering for hours on end!
We hope you enjoyed the food and beverage at the finish line. We offered rice fig bars, chocolate milk, Coke and Diet Coke, coconut water, bananas, chicken, and veggie wraps as well as Hawaiian chips and plenty of ice-cold Michelob Ultra and Big Wave beer! Your comments that we received at the finish line were all so positive and uplifting! Thank you! All of our volunteers and staff work so hard on race day to give you the best experience that we can provide.
We want to congratulate each of you for participating and finishing a very tough race. You endured the heat and humidity. You conquered a significant elevation gain. Wear those medals proudly! Speaking of medals, the honu theme was our favorite design in the last 14 years. We hope you liked them as much as we did.
Congrats to Tyler McCandless for breaking the half marathon record and beating his own time by almost a minute from last year. A big shout out to our Japanese winners in the full marathon. What a tremendous effort and impressive times by Shinya Ohashi (2:29:34) and Mirai Homma (2:59:37). Kudos to Paige Mills, our female half champion for putting up an impressive 1:22:11 half time!
Our Wilcox Health Sports and Fitness Expo at the Grand Hyatt Kauai rocked this year! We had a record number of vendors, and their feedback was very positive, and we thank you for supporting all of them by buying large amounts of their products! Many vendors informed us that they sold out of their products and would definitely be back for next year! Our logo’d merchandise also sold very well and the feedback we received was very positive as evidenced by so many wearing them throughout the weekend while out exercising, shopping, or dining!
It takes a village to execute this event, and we can’t thank our sponsors and volunteers enough for what they provide for the race weekend experience. We would like to recognize our 14-year partners Grand Hyatt Kauai, Kauai Coffee, Wilcox Health, Hawaii Tourism Authority and Kauai Visitors Bureau, as well as several island businesses that continue to support us including Brennecke’s Beach Broiler, Nukumoi Surf Co., Puka Dog, Koloa Landing Resort, Koa Kea Resort, Castle Resorts, Elite Pacific Gather, Alaska Airlines, Holo Holo Charters, Koloa Village and Poipu Shopping Village.
As usual, planning has already begun in earnest for 2024 – we even have our first sign-ups starting to trickle in! This event continues to grow in popularity because all of you continue to spread the word back in your communities. Mahalo for this! Remember, we are still a relatively young event, as destination events go, and we are optimistic that we will sell out for the first time in 2024! Our recommendation is to register early this year as we will cap the event at 2,500 participants. We also just about sold out all of the rental cars and south side hotel rooms on island this year and that’s a first!
We can’t wait to welcome many of you back for the 2024 event on Sunday, September 1st! Please bring a friend next year as we so appreciate you spreading the word around the country about our little race in paradise! And if there are any suggestions on how we can improve the overall experience, please feel free to email us, or reach out on social media! We thank you all for coming to Kauai and sharing your stories and experiences with us – our passion for producing this event has never been higher!
Warmest aloha, Jeff and Liz Sacchini