KALAKAUA MERRIE MILE BOASTS FOUR WORLD CHAMPIONS AND A DOZEN INTERNATIONAL MEDALISTS
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

(23-Oct) -- The ninth edition of the Kalakaua Merrie Mile (KMM), scheduled for Saturday, December 13 in Honolulu, will be the strongest-ever edition of the iconic beach-side road race held one day before the JAL Honolulu Marathon.  Organizers have assembled an elite field of 20 athletes representing seven nations which includes four world champions, twelve international medalists, twelve Olympians, and both American record holders in the mile.  Moreover, the athletes will compete in a unique "chase" format where competitors in the women's category are given a head start over the men and prize money is paid based on the overall order of finish.  The overall winner will earn $10,000 in prize money, the highest first place prize of any road mile in the United States, and there is also a $10,000 bonus on offer for a world record.

"With the deepest and most acclaimed international field yet, along with an increase in prize money, the KMM is rapidly becoming the most prestigious road mile in the world," said Honolulu Marathon Association president Dr. Jim Barahal, who oversees the event.  "We are excited to welcome these incredible athletes to kick off the Honolulu Marathon weekend on December 13."

Among the four world champions there are three Americans --Donavan Brazier, Josh Hoey and Hobbs Kessler-- and one New Zealander, Geordie Beamish.  Brazier was the 2019 world 800m champion; Hoey is the reigning world indoor 800m champion; Kessler is the reigning world road mile champion; and Beamish is both the 2024 world indoor 1500m and 2025 world 3000m steeplechase champion.  Brazier and Hoey are running the KMM for the first time, while Kessler will be competing for the fourth time and Beamish for his second.

Among the twelve international medalists, American Yared Nuguse stands out.  The 26 year-old was the 2024 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist, and is also the American record holder in the mile both outdoors (3:43.97) and indoors (3:46.63).  Training in Boulder, Colo., with the On Athletics Club, Nuguse will be making his second appearance at the KMM.  He was the overall winner in 2023.

"It was a really intense race," said Nuguse. "That whole chasing-the-women format had me on edge for a lot of that race. It ended up being such an exciting race at the finish, so I'm very happy to be here."

In the women's category, American mile record holder Sinclaire Johnson (4:16.32) has a lifetime best just a touch faster than the previous national record holder, Nikki Hiltz (4:16.35).  At the 2024 KMM Johnson was third overall, while Hiltz was the overall champion.  Hiltz also competed in 2023, 2022 and 2019.

"This race is special if you're first or last and it's the cherry on top to walk away with some prize money and a gold plate," said Hiltz after last year's race, clutching the special gold winner's plaque.

Other Olympians in the field include Neil Gourley of Great Britain, the 2023 European Indoor Championships 1500m silver medalist; Oliver Hoare of Australia, the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500m champion; Nico Young of the USA, the national outdoor 5000m record holder; Susan Ejore-Sanders of Kenya, sixth in the 2024 Olympic 1500m; Weini Kelati of the USA, the 2024 national 10,000m champion; and Nozomi Tanaka of Japan, the Japanese record holder for every distance from 1500m to 5000m.

The out-and-back, World Athletics-certified course is flat, fast and record-eligible.  The course records are 3:53.3 for the men (Edward Cheserek of Kenya, 2019), and 4:22.6 (Mirriam Cherop of Kenya, 2018).  Prize money will be paid five-deep ($10,000-5000-3000-1500-1000) and the top finisher in the men's or women's category who is not the overall winner will receive a special bonus of $2500 (that's new for 2025).  Race organizers expect about 3000 athletes to run in the KMM across all categories.

The head start given to the women in 2024 was 32 seconds and three athletes in the women's category --Hiltz, Kelati and Johnson-- finished one-two-three.  Kessler was fourth overall.  The overall spread between the top-four finishers last year was less than sixth tenths of a second.

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The LIVE and FREE broadcast of the 2025 Kalakaua Merrie Mile will air on the CITIUS MAG and Honolulu Marathon YouTube channels. This will be the race's first year partnering with CITIUS MAG to provide live coverage and interviews, and will feature Chris Chavez on the call for the professional race.  The first wave of the mile goes off at 7:00 a.m. HST (12:00 p.m. EST, 5:00 p.m. BST, and 6:00 p.m. CET), and the professional race will begin at approximately 7:45 a.m. HST.

The links for the race broadcast are: 

https://www.youtube.com/@honolulumarathon

https://www.youtube.com/c/CitiusMag/

The complete elite field for the 2025 Kalakaua Merrie Mile is below (with dates of birth and 1500m and mile personal bests): 

MEN'S CATEGORY: 
 Donavan Brazier, USA, 15-Apr-1997, Nike Swoosh TC, 3:35.85, 3:59.30
 Geordie Beamish, NZL, 24-Oct-1996, On Athletics Club, 3:34.47, 3:49.09
 Vince Ciattei, USA, 21-Jan-1995, UA Dark Sky Distance, 3:31.67, 3:49.37
 Neil Gourley, GBR, 7-Feb-1995, UA Dark Sky Distance, 3:30.60, 3:47.74
 Oliver Hoare, AUS, 29-Jan-1997, On Athletics Club, 3:29.41, 3:47.48
 Josh Hoey, USA, 1-Nov-1999, adidas, 3:29.75, 3:52.61
 Hobbs Kessler, USA, 15-Mar-2003, adidas, 3:29.45, 3:46.90
 Festus Lagat, KEN, 10-Oct-1996, UA Baltimore Distance, 3:29.03, 3:48.93
 Yared Nuguse, USA, 1-Jun-1999, On Athletics Club, 3:27.80, 3:43.97
 Nico Young, USA, 27-Jul-2002, adidas, 3:34.56, 3:50.89

WOMEN'S CATEGORY: 
 Susan Ejore-Sanders, KEN, 9-Nov-1995, UA Dark Sky Distance, 3:56.07, 4:20.61
 Nikki Hiltz, USA, 23-Oct-1994, lululemon, 3:55.33, 4:16.35
 Sage Hurta-Klecker, USA, 23-Jun-1998, On Athletics Club, 4:01.79, 4:19.89
 Sinclaire Johnson, USA, 13-Apr-1998, Nike Swoosh TC, 3:56.75, 4:16.32
 Dani Jones, USA, 21-Aug-1996, New Balance, 4:00.64, 4:22.45
 Weini Kelati, USA, 1-Dec-1996, UA Dark Sky Distance, 4:10.88, 4:28.49 road
 Emily Mackay, USA, 30-Apr-1998, New Balance, 3:55.90, 4:23.79
 Heather MacLean, USA, 31-Aug-1995, New Balance, 3:57.79, 4:17.01
 Aurora Rynda (pacemaker), CAN, 26-Oct-2000, Very Nice Track Club, 4:17.77, 4:28.9 road
 Nozomi Tanaka, JPN, 4-Sep-1999, New Balance, 3:59.19, 4:23.4 road

You can also link to the elite field here: https://www.honolulumarathon.org/2025-kalakaua-merrie-mile-elite-field


PHOTO: Nikki Hiltz winning the 2024 Kalakaua Merrie Mile over Weini Kelati (second), Sinclaire Johnson (third) and Hobbs Kessler (fourth) (photo by Jason Suarez for the Honolulu Marathon Association)

PHOTO: Nikki Hiltz with the winner's gold plaque after the 2024 Kalakaua Merrie Mile (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)