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Defending champions
Thackery and Weldibanos return to defend
Britain's Calli Thackery and Eritrea's Tsegay Weldibanos, the 2025 Honolulu champions, both return on December 13 to defend their titles against a field including Olympic bronze medallist Molly Seidel.
First-timers
Half the field has never run a marathon
More than 11,000 of this year's marathon entrants say Honolulu will be their very first marathon — with no time limit, the race remains one of the world's most welcoming places to go 26.2 for the first time.
Over 80
82 marathon entrants are 80 or older — four are 90 or older
The combined participant lists as of November 11 show 82 entries aged 80 or older in the 2026 JAL Honolulu Marathon, including 21 women and 4 entrants aged 90 or older. The 80-plus group includes 34 entries from Japan and 28 Hawaii residents. Among them are Honolulu's Chikara Abe, 95, who has run the race 40 years in a row and is aiming for a 41st consecutive start, and Katsuji Fujii, 90. Japan counts combine the Japan-office list and Japan-address entries; Hawaii counts use Hawaii addresses. All figures include charity marathon entries and count entries, not finishers.
Record chase
A $20,000 world record bonus under the palms
The Kalakaua Merrie Mile offers the largest first prize of any road mile in the U.S. ($15,000), with a $20,000 bonus for a world record on its certified Waikiki course. Women start with a head start — first across the line wins.
Solid gold medal · Presented by SGC
Worth its weight in gold.
The first-place man and woman in both the running and wheelchair races receive a solid gold medal from our partners at SGC, the sponsor of the race medals.
Wheelchair racing
Defending champion Scaroni leads a stellar wheelchair field
Defending champion Susanna Scaroni returns to the 2026 JAL Honolulu Marathon after setting a women's wheelchair course record of 1:48:37 in 2025. The Paralympic gold medallist and 2025 World Marathon Majors champion joins a stellar field featuring Britain's Eden Rainbow Cooper, the Boston Marathon champion in 2024 and 2026, and Commonwealth Games marathon gold medallist Johnboy Smith. Nine-time Honolulu winner and Hall of Famer Krige Schabort and Japan's Masazumi Soejima, a former Boston and New York champion, add further pedigree — setting up a compelling wheelchair contest on December 13.