KAILUA-KONA — Owen Kelley didn’t come to the Big Island to race — he came to relax, support his dad who signed up for the Kona Marathon, and enjoy a weeklong family vacation before returning to Bentonville, Arkansas.
But as the race energy leading up the event proved too tempting to resist, the Bentonville High School cross country and track standout laced up his shoes and jumped into the Kona Half Marathon just for fun.
Just 13.1-miles later, the 18-year old found himself breaking the tape as the overall Half Marathon winner in a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 1 second, stunning the field and himself with a strong, steady performance well beyond his usual 2-mile and 5K race distances.
“It’s exciting!” Kelley said of his win just after crossing the finish line. “My plan was to go and put out a hard effort and I saw that I was gaining on first place, so I figured to go and get him. It was a fun course and a good experience. I was in second place until mile 9, and then I came up on first place and we ran together for about a mile. Then on a downhill, I surged to open it up a little bit, and after that, I didn’t really see him again.”
Crossing the finish line in second place was Waikoloa’s Daniel Hill in 1:18:38, followed by Kailua-Kona’s Uriel Villamil in third at 1:29:42.
“I normally run the 2-mile and 5K distances, so this was a bit of a step up for me,” said Kelley, who is set to run cross country and track for Ole Miss this fall. “I’ve done just one other half marathon in my hometown a couple years ago, so this is just my second one, and my first time winning.
“Today is also our last day of our vacation. So, we had fun for a week and did this race on our last day. We head out tonight. We came specifically for the marathon as my dad is trying to do a marathon in every state. This is his 49th one.”
Owen’s dad, Dave Kelley, finished the Kona Marathon (26.2-miles) in a time of 3:58:33.
On the women’s side, it was Holualoa’s Laura Ankrum who dug deep over the final miles to earn a hard-fought victory and the overall women’s Half Marathon title in a time of 1:32:36. Ankrum, a familiar presence in the local running scene and a top podium finisher, is also a proud mom to three naturally athletic boys and a devoted primary care physician at Hawaii Island Community Health Center.
“I was just excited to see it return as I know it takes a lot of work to put on these events so it’s really fun to see it back in the community,” Ankrum said of the Kona Marathon Events. “I liked the out and back courses because you know where you are at and I liked being able to see people on the back and forth.
“Maria (Cicio) started catching me on the second loop and I knew she was right there. I think around mile 11 or 12, she really picked it up and came up to me. That kind of woke me up as we ran side by side for a little while. Then the last mile I started pushing it, so I was able to gap her just a little.”
Kailua-Kona’ Maria Cicio kept it a close race finishing second in a time of 1:33:01, with Winona Chen rounding out the women’s podium with her effort of 1:39:17.
5K Race:
In the 5K race for first, 22-year old Alec Ankrum kept it a family affair by winning the overall title in a swift time of 18:35. Ankrum, whose mom Laura won the women’s Half Marathon, recently graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
“It was a fun race!” Ankrum said of winning the 5K. “It’s always good to come back to the island to do the local races and see everyone again. I like this course as I like Alii Drive, but it’s definitely not a fast course because there were two hills. I’ve been doing more strength training, and I did rugby in college so I’m definitely not in amazing running shape.”
Following Ankrum in the men’s race were Kailua-Kona’s Chihiro Sato in second place at 18:46, and California’s Quinn Hooper in third at 19:10.
While the 5K was full of energy and strong competition, several surprises emerged along the course. Ankrum said confusion at the turnaround led the top two lead runners to deviate from the route, adding extra distance and ultimately altered the finishing order. GPS watches told the story.
“There was an issue with the turnaround,” Ankrum said. “So, we did lose the top two people at the turnaround, they went further and ended up doing 4.2-miles.”
The two runners who were in the lead were 18-year old distance running standouts: Lucas Morris from Aliso Viejo, California and recent Kealakehe High School graduate, Archer Ankrum. Both looked disappointed after crossing the finish line with their times of 23:13 and 23:14 which placed them 10th and 11th overall.
“I had about 20-seconds on Archer and probably around 45-50 seconds on everyone else by the aid station (5K turn),” Morris said. “I thought they (the volunteers) would have told us to turnaround at that aid station, but they didn’t say anything other than telling us, ‘Good pace.’
“To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be leading the race as I thought there were going to be other (faster) people here, so I was just going to follow everyone else. Archer and I continued on down that strip as we didn’t know, and I think we were a little confused. I didn’t realize we went too far until Archer called my name and said, ‘We went like 2.1-miles already,’ then I kind of knew something wasn’t right.”
Morris, who was visiting family on the Big Island and is set to run for Concordia University Irvine in the fall, said he felt really good during the first half of the race.
“I was just moving, I was feeling really good,” Morris said. “My first mile was a 5:10 pace, and my second was 5:20. I think I would’ve finished in like the 16s or something holding that pace. So, then we turned around but by that time, we already had 30 or 40 people in front of us. We made up some time at the end. It was unfortunate, but it’s fine.”
On the women’s side, it was no surprise to see Kailua-Kona’s Amanda Platter crossing the finish line first to take the women’s title in a time of 24:33. Platter, who competes in races with her family — husband Dustin, and children Eileen and Ethan — typically sets her sights in every race to beating her 13-year old son to the finish line.
“I have mixed feelings about it,” laughed Platter of her 5K win. “I feel great because I can run a 5K, but I also lost to my son Ethan again. It’s just been an ongoing battle and so I just hope I can win him someday. The course was really fun. I loved it and it was awesome. I love the energy down here as it kind of feels like getting ready for church because everyone is together and I love it!”
Just nine seconds back to take second place was Kailua-Kona’s Hannah White in a time of 24:42. White, who will be a senior at Kealakehe High School and rostered on the girl’s water polo team, has been competing in local running events since she was little. Rounding out the women’s podium was Kailua-Kona’s Micaela Sinclair in 25:10.
Columnist Note: The Kona Marathon and Quarter Marathon race recap was featured in Tuesday’s (6/24/25) sports edition.