The Kona Marathon and Family Runs is honored to announce that for the third year we have sponsored a Kona Marathon Military Shadow Run. Support of our Service Members putting themselves in harm’s way to protect and ensure our freedom is very important to our management team.

Being deployed in foreign countries and combat zones does not normally present our troops the opportunity to run in organized races. The Kona Marathon feels it is very important to promote these Shadow Runs in order to help build and maintain moral.

This year the Kona Marathon Shadow Run was held in Qatar. There were 39 participants from four U.S. Military Units:

• Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE)
• Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT)
• United States Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A)
• Central Command (CENTCOM)

The Kona Marathon Military Shadow Run was held in May in order to avoid the intense Middle East desert heat in June. Our men and women in uniform participated in all four Kona Marathon events; Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k and 5k and were awarded finisher medals and t-shirts for their respective races. In return, we were sent an U.S. Flag that was flown over the skies of Afghanistan in a combat refueling mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. This flag will be proudly flown over our race finish line on June 23.

For details on the 20th Anniversary Kona Marathon and Family Runs being held on June 22-23 and the entire week of events, visit konamarathon.com.