M80-84: Buckingham Holds Off Fellow Octogenarian on Kauai's Coast

• Michael Buckingham, 80, won the M80-84 group in 3:16:39 (15:00/mi), finishing ahead of the only other competitor in the group.
• Arvin Erickson, 81, completed the half marathon in 3:28:22 (15:54/mi), crossing 11:43 behind the winner.
• Buckingham gained ground in the final stretch, posting a stronger close to seal the result.
• Both men finished a full 13.1 miles in 77°F heat and humidity on Kauai — a feat worth noting at any age.

Just two men lined up in the M80-84 group, but that made the story no less real: two athletes in their eighties completing a half marathon on a warm, humid morning in Poipu. Michael Buckingham, the 80-year-old local from Kalaheo, set the pace from the start and never relinquished his lead, crossing in 3:16:39 at a 15:00/mi clip.

Arvin Erickson, the 81-year-old from Long Beach, was the stronger runner through the first half of the course — his split from the start to the 11.05-mile mark showed him holding his position in the broader men's field. But Buckingham turned up the heat in the closing miles, running the 11.05-mile-to-finish leg faster than Erickson could match. That late surge opened the gap to 11:43, and Buckingham took the win going away.

Erickson, a year older than the winner, still covered the full 13.1 miles in 3:28:22 at 15:54/mi — no small thing in the Kauai heat. Between the two of them, these men combined for 161 years of life and two finisher medals. Buckingham takes the M80-84 title, but both earned every step.