HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Three generations of a Molokai family of runners are set to take Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon.
“It’ll be a unique experience for us,” said Wesley Seguritan. “Last time we did that was in 2017 during the Phoenix, we ran the Phoenix Half Marathon with my grandson, and my son ran the Phoenix Full Marathon and back in 2017. So that was the last race I ran.”
The last time the 72-year-old from Molokai ran in the Honolulu Marathon was in 1979.
“That was a very great experience for me and something I’ll never forget as the first one,” Wesley said. “It’s kind of easy for me at that age.”
Forty-six years later, Wesley, his son Donovan, who lives in Arizona, and granddaughter Kamalei, who lives in Laie, are gearing up to pound Oahu’s pavements.
“When I first saw that it was on the same weekend that we were gonna be on Oahu, I thought, oh, this would be really neat to run it to like honor my dad when he first did his marathon,” Donovan said.
He told his dad a week later, and Wesley said he would train to do the marathon with Donovan.
“I thought he was joking, but he was serious,” Donovan said.
That’s when Wesley got Kamalei involved.
“He calls me up, and he goes, ‘Hey, what excuse do you have? Your dad’s doing it, your old man’s doing it, your papa, you know, like, and what excuse do you have? You’re 23,’ and I’m going, because I was not a runner, like at all,” she said.
“But he’s in his 70s, and he’s doing it,” Kamalei added. “So I just thought, you know what? Yeah, I got to do it. I got to try.”
The Seguritans are pretty competitive, but the marathon is more than just a fitness challenge for them.
“I‘m just challenging my son to see if he can be my time, 4:09,” Wesley said.
“Yeah, it’s going down, old man,” Donovan said
It’s a chance to honor Wesley’s daughter, Chantelle, who has since passed. Together, they ran the Great Aloha Run in 2011.
“She wasn’t a runner either, but she was trying to get fit. And, you know, as we all do, we put on some weight when we get older, and just trying to stay fit,” Donovan said. “Now we have my daughter (who) can fill a void and maybe recreate that picture for us at the finish line.”
“I’m not going to lie, no part of me genuinely wanted to run this marathon, but a huge part has been like, without her here, what can still connect us, you know?” Kamalei said.
She said doing the training with her dad and grandpa has been unifying and added that she can feel Chantelle’s spirit with them as they run together.
“Even though we make jokes and stuff, it’s been really unifying, and I can feel her spirit with us as we run together. It’s been super special,” Kamalei added.
The last time their family was all together was a year and a half ago, and the marathon will be a sweet reunion for the Seguritan family.
“I’m just excited to be able to get together and be able to run this race together,” Wesley said.
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