The elite race at the JAL Honolulu Marathon.
5am fireworks over Ala Moana. Diamond Head twice. Heat, humidity and a road that has been deciding marathon careers since 1973 — and keeps launching the next ones.
Fifty-plus Decembers of racing in Honolulu.
The 2026 elite field
Olympians, world medallists and national record holders from seven countries, with both defending champions back on Kalakaua Avenue.
ExplorePrize money & awards
$25,000 to win, cumulative time incentives down to sub-2:06 and sub-2:23, a $15,000 course record bonus, and a solid gold medal from SGC for every champion.
ExploreHistory & champions
Every winner from Duncan Macdonald to today, both course records, and the story of a race that was once the biggest on earth.
ExploreThe path forward
World records, Olympic medals and major titles won by athletes who first broke the tape in Kapiolani Park.
ExploreA hot, honest race that shows who can actually win.
There are flatter courses and cooler mornings elsewhere. What Honolulu offers is a race, not a time trial: humidity that punishes greed, a second climb over Diamond Head at mile 24, and no pacemaker to hide behind in the final miles. Winners here have proven a skill that transfers to every major marathon on the calendar — the ability to beat people.
That is why the December result in Hawaii keeps showing up on the résumés of athletes who go on to win in Boston, London, Chicago, New York and Berlin.
See the careers it launched- 015:00am startFireworks over Ala Moana send the field into the dark to beat the tropical heat.
- 02Diamond HeadThe climb past the crater comes twice — early in the dark and again at mile 24 when the race is decided.
- 03Kalanianaʻole HighwayA long, exposed out-and-back where humidity, not pace, breaks the pack apart.
- 04Kapiolani ParkThe finish under the banyans, with lei, koa bowls and the awards ceremony at the Bandstand.