Kaua'i Half Marathon M55-59: Menovcik Runs Away With It

• Steve Menovcik (56, Grand Ledge, MI) wins M55-59 in 1:42:46 (7:50/mi), finishing more than 6 minutes clear of second place in a 68-man field.
• Todd Meadows (56, Kihei, HI) takes second in 1:49:12, with Hyo Lim (59, King Of Prussia, PA) rounding out the podium in 1:54:15.
• The podium spans just 11:29 from first to third — but the top three are separated from 4th-place Tom Taylor (1:56:11) by less than two minutes, making the battle behind Menovcik genuinely tight.
• Steve Fowler (58, Kapaa, HI) and Christopher Holmes (56, Amesbury, MA) staged a near-photo-finish for 5th, separated by just 6 seconds — 1:58:52 to 1:58:58.

Steve Menovcik turned this into a one-man show. Running 77°F Kauai humidity at a 7:50/mi clip, the Grand Ledge native pulled steadily through the men's field — moving from 46th to 44th among men across the race's three segments — and built a gap that nobody in M55-59 could seriously threaten. His winning margin of 6:26 over Todd Meadows wasn't a sprint-finish story; it was a controlled, confident demolition.

Meadows, a local from Kihei, ran a solid 8:20/mi to hold off the rest of the field for second, while 59-year-old Hyo Lim of King Of Prussia made the podium in 1:54:15. Lim's race had a different texture: he held steady through the first half but slipped back among the men's field (101st to 111th) on the final stretch — meaning Tom Taylor of Phoenix was closing. Taylor's 1:56:11 (8:52/mi) reflected a strong second half; he moved from 151st to 126th among men, posting the 100th-fastest split in the field on the Half-to-11.05 Mile segment and trimming nearly 2 minutes off Lim's lead — but not quite enough.

The race for 5th was the day's tightest drama. Steve Fowler, racing on home island out of Kapaa, held on in 1:58:52, while Christopher Holmes of Amesbury, MA crossed in 1:58:58 — six seconds back after 13.1 miles in the Hawaiian heat. From there, the field spread out across the remaining 48 finishers, with the top 20 all clocking under 2:18 despite the warm, humid conditions along the Poipu coast.