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Show Park City runners beat the rain in soggy St. George Marathon 14 . . (- ' ' "X Last Saturday a band of devoted Park City runners braved a cold, soggy rainstorm rain-storm to compete in the St. George Marathon. The runners had been looking forward to a warm, sunny race in Utah's Dixie, one final fling before submitting submit-ting to a long winter up north. nor-th. But instead they were treated to a rain-drenched run in wet sneakers. According to the race organizers, it was the first time in the marathon's seven-year history that the weather hadn't cooperated. Nevertheless, the Park City contingent performed admirably ad-mirably and brought home numerous awards. Of the 2,000 competitors huddled under blankets and tarps at the starting line, 18 could claim a direct Park City connection by virtue of their work or residence. And when all was said and run, they did the town proud. Eight of the locals won special honors in their classes. Marit Glenne earned a first-place plaque in the women's masters division (for ages 40 to 44). Although the cold weather kept her from running as fast as she had hoped she would, she beat both of her previous marathon times on the same course. Glenne finished in 3 hours 14 minutes and 30 seconds. Judy Hagerman of Timberline finished tenth (3:44:53) in the same division and also won a plaque. Bev Gray won third place in the women's sub masters division (ages 30 tc 34) with a time of 3:09:24. Chris McLaren was 25th in the same division (3:59:00) and fellow Parkite Moon Willett was just half a minute behind. Jennifer Wilde wasn't far behind Willett, finishing in 4:01:10. Mary Coelho was registered in the sub masters class but was forced to drop out of the race because of a knee injury . Ellen Economou, who recently moved to Park City, finished 21st in the women's open division for 19 to 24 years ols with a time of 4:06:37. Shirley Phillips placed sixth six-th in the women's 25-29-year olds open class, rounding the course in 3:20:44 despite the slick pavement. Lisa Watson accompanied her to the winner's win-ner's circle with a 3:26:41 for tenth place in the same division. Jennifer Kohler took a little longer (4:14:18) and had to battle a second cloudburst but finished nevertheless. Chad Bennion of Salt Lake City finished first overall but his time (2:20:42) was not fast enough to break the course record or to qualify him for the Olympic trials. The conditions, he said, were the primary obstacle. The rain slowed everyone down, said Park City Running Run-ning Club enthusiast Pat Maning, who ran the last nine miles of the course to keep his friends' spirits up. "Everyone thought their times would be four to five minutes faster than they were. The rain really cramped cram-ped everyone's style," he said. "But the people who run marathons are a different breed. They put in a lot more time training than 5K (kilometer) and 10k racers so they are committed to race regardless of the weather. For them, the rain was just another challenge to overcome. Parkite Craig Duerr met the challenge by finishing in 2:42:30, placing 7th in the men's 19-24 division, 38th overall. Dane Robinson didn't back down either. He finished in 3:37:17. William Rammel was just ten minutes behind Robinson in the Open Men's Division for ages 25-29. Robert Wilkinson, also of Park City, finished 30th in the sub masters class (ages 30-34) with a time of 2:52:48 I .in. r,i it fc.-ir I l ' ' "...ill. Craig Duerr and Gary Johnson, in the Masters 40-44 year-old-class, clocked in at 3:39:30. Ed Hagerman of Timberline Tim-berline won fourth place honors in the Masters 45-49 year-old division in 2:51:18. Another local runner in the same class, Phillip Krumm, finished in 3: 27: 32. |
