Local Runners Travel To Hawaiian Islands To Run Marathon

Three local runners traveled to Kaua’i over the weekend to compete in the Kaua’i Marathon. Kaua’i is one of the Hawaiin Islands, this was the third year for the Kaua’i Marathon. 344 runners competed in this year’s Kaua’i Marathon and 1,046 runners competed in the half marathon event.

Tyler McCandless, local elite runner now residing in Boulder, CO and chasing down his running dream, took home the purse, capturing first place and setting a new course record. Tyler competed against defending champion, Michael Wardian who ran a 2:30:52 last year. Tyler captured this year’s title with a 2:23:19. Tyler ran his first marathon less than a year ago and has had an exceptional year since then. He ran his fastest marathon in a time of 2:17:22 at the 2010 California International Marathon. Tyler competed against Wardian at Grandmas Marathon this past June where he edged out Wardian by 40 seconds.

Mark Jones traveled to Kaua’i and represented the area extremely well. Mark placed 12th overall with a time of 2:59:18 and celebrated his birthday on the same day. What a great birthday gift this was! Earlier this year, Mark competed in 2011 Boston Marathon, two weeks later he ran the 34th Annual Lincoln National Guard Marathon (Lincoln, NE), and then returned home to pace the 2011 Run for the Red Pocono Marathon two weeks after that. That was all part of his training for his goal event this year, the Death Race in Vermont in July. I’m not bending any truths when I say that Mark has been on fire this year.

Bart Yasso is the third local runner who traveled to the beautiful island of Kaua’i to run the marathon. Bart has been globetrotting for most of this year to host and emcee races around the country, and the world, as a representative of Runner’s World. Hopefully, Bart has been able to enjoy some down time on the island.

Congratulations to Tyler, Mark and Bart on their 2011 finish at the Kaua’i Marathon!