Kaua'i Half Marathon M60-64: Hopkins Runs Away With It

• Paul Hopkins (63, Honolulu) won the M60-64 group in 1:46:43 — an 8:08/mi average that left a 5:37 gap to runner-up Ross Roussel.
• The top five all broke 2:00, with just 10:42 separating Hopkins from 5th-place Danny Guerpo (1:57:25).
• Closest battle on the day: Cameron Hope and Jed Sherwindt (13th and 14th) finished in 2:33:50 and 2:33:51 — one second apart across 13.1 miles.
• A global field of 30: finishers traveled from London, Munich, Victoria (BC), and across the U.S. mainland to race on Kauai's humid August morning.

Paul Hopkins made the M60-64 race look straightforward, but the numbers tell a more aggressive story. Running 8:08 per mile through 77°F heat and 69% humidity, the 63-year-old Honolulu resident steadily climbed through the men's field — moving from 86th to 69th to 65th among the men as the race progressed — and posted the fastest split of the final stretch (11.05 miles to the finish) among anyone in his group. By the time he crossed the line in 1:46:43, the outcome was never in doubt.

Ross Roussel (1:52:20) and Michael Henry (1:54:02) locked in a clean 1-2-3 behind Hopkins, with Roussel holding a 1:42 margin over Henry. Henryk Rybka, the lone Connecticut representative, slotted in at 4th in 1:54:57 — just 55 seconds back from Henry — while Danny Guerpo of Kamuela rounded out a sub-2:00 top five at 1:57:25. Steven Berrick, making the trip from London, finished a solid 6th at 2:01:40.

The race's most dramatic finish came much further back, where Cameron Hope (Victoria, BC) and Jed Sherwindt (Santa Monica) ran shoulder-to-shoulder for 13.1 miles and separated by exactly one second at the line — 2:33:50 to 2:33:51. Thirteen and fourteenth in the M60-64 group, they put on the closest duel of the day. With 10 additional finishers beyond the 20 listed, the full M60-64 field of 30 brought plenty of stories home from Poipu.