Defending champion Patrick Ivuti of Kenya broke away early and won today's Honolulu Marathon going away while Russia's Svetlana Zakharova did the same to win the women's race.

Ivuti's time was 2 hours, 12 minutes, 14 seconds, more than two minutes faster than last year's winning time of 2:14:35 but more than a minute off Jimmy Muindi's 2004 record of 2:11:12.

Ivuti's splits were 30:07 (10k or 6.2 miles), 1:04:21 (21.1k), 1:31:40 (30k) and 2:05:04 (40k).

He was followed by Nicholas Chelimo Kipkorir of Kenya in 2:13:10 and fellow Kenyan William Chebon at 2:14:59. Jimmy Muindi, a six-time Honolulu Marathon winner, took fourth at 2:17:17.
Honolulu's Brandon Laan was sixth in 2:25:41.

Zakharova, who won the Honolulu race in 1997 and 2002, finished with a time of 2:28:34. The course record is 2:27:19 set by Russia's Lyubov Denisova in 2006.

Zakharova's splits were 34:54 (10k), 1:14:44 (21.1k), 1:46:04 (30k) and 2:21:07 (40k).

She was followed by defending champion Kiyoko Shimahara of Japan in 2:29:53. Kenya's Pamela Chepchuma was third in 2:32:41.

Ivuti was among the leaders from the beginning and ran comfortably ahead from before the midway point in the 26.2-mile race.

The 37th annual race got under way in downtown Honolulu at 5 a.m. with a four-minute fireworks display,

It didn't take long for a pack to break away from the field of more than 23,000 runners who were entered.

At the two-mile mark, about six runners, which included Ivuti and a pacesetter, broke away.

At the six-mile mark the pace was a blistering 2:06 for the 26.2-mile race.

Through 11 miles, Ivuti still remained among the leaders, which also included six-time winner Jimmy Muindi of Kenya.

The leaders hit the halfway mark at around 1:14.

But at the 16-mile mark, Ivuti was running alone and recorded a time of 1:18:34.

He ran virtually alone, through darkness early on.

Action happened early in the women's race when the pacesetter, Yuko Manabe, dropped out at the three-mile mark.

Zakharova had a slight lead at the 18-mile mark and slowly pulled away from Shimahara and Chepchumba.

She built the lead to 25 meters at 19 miles and then 50 meters before widening her lead even more.