Wisniewski breaks record in Mayor's Marathon

But the rugged course, which includes eight miles of backcountry running, held a late-race growl for its new conqueror.

Before the 3,029 runners in three race distances finish on the West High School track, they ascend a hill from the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. While not terribly long, the hill's location more than 25 miles into the race couldn't be worse.

"I was walking up it," Wisniewski, 30, recounted at the finish line after he'd sliced more than two minutes off the race record. "Walking and wincing."

So even the fastest runner in 36 years of Mayor's Marathons tasted a slice of humble pie. But through most of a cool morning, Wisniewski was a smooth running machine, steadily building a lead over runner-up David Kiplagat, the All-America distance runner from UAA.

"But from (mile) 23 on I said, 'Oh, oh -- here it comes.' "

"It" was the body blow many marathoners feel over the last portion of the 26.2-mile run. By then, though, the outcome had been decided. Kiplagat finished in 2:29:39.

Wisniewski's ever-expanding gap was 20 yards near the Bartlett High start as runners poured onto the Glenn Highway bike trail. By the four-mile mark as runners left the highway trail and headed toward Arctic Valley Road, he was 70 seconds ahead. Turning down Campbell Airstrip Road, his advantage had grown to five minutes, despite eight miles of rugged running on the Tank Trail.

"I felt like I was swimming through the rocks at one point, and there were a couple of steep hills thrown in," he said. "But it was beautiful out there, nice and peaceful."

Race director and former record holder Michael Friess, whose time of 2:24:44 had seldom been challenged over the past two decades, congratulated Wisniewski afterward.

"Good job, man, good job," Friess said. "I hope you're going to be back next year and really put it out there."

But for this year, a night of celebration with family and friends awaited. There was much to celebrate. The new king of Anchorage running had now won at 5 kilometers (this year's Heart Run), 10-K (last year's Alaska 10-K Classic), half-marathon (last year's Mayor's) and the marathon in 12 months. Plus, he was getting faster.

In Wisniewski's half-marathon win last year, one report called his 1:11:46 time "blistering." His pace this year -- twice the distance on a significantly tougher course -- was even faster. He ran Saturday's marathon at a 5:26 per mile pace, three seconds per mile quicker.

"It was almost a five-minute marathon PR (personal record), and to do it on this course was a real confidence booster," said Wisniewski, who will now consider a run for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials. "I wanted to use this race as a marker to see if that was a possibility."

Triathlete Natasha Yaremczuk of Ontario, Canada, took the women's marathon in 3:04:35, a victory that she said earned $2,000 for a fund to fight diabetes, a disease that afflicts her brother.

"That gravel in the backcountry was so hard," she said of the unpaved running through the foothills of the Chugach Mountains. "My legs are spent."

Anchorage's Kirsten Kolb was second, more than 16 minutes back.

While Wisniewski delivered the stunner, his run wasn't the only memorable performance Saturday.

Marko Cheseto led a pack of UAA runners and skiers who grabbed four of the top five half-marathon spots. Cheseto, the Seawolves all-American at 5,000 and 10,000 meters, blazed a 1:09:24 time in his debut at the distance to threaten Olympian Don Clary's 1:08:18 Mayor's half-marathon record. Clary's time in 1995 was set on a different course.

Cheseto's UAA teammate, Alfred Kangogo, was second in 1:14:09.

"Next year," Friess told Chesto while offering congratulations, "you better believe you're running the marathon. Make sure you understand that."

Cheseto nodded in agreement but wasn't so certain.

"It was a little tough to finish," he allowed. "At 8 1/2 miles, it was not fun anymore."

Ageless Anchorage runner Esther Jurasek, 46, easily topped the women half-marathoners, winning in 1:28:35. April Nelson, 11 years younger and nearly six minutes slower, was second. Jurasek has twice won the marathon, most recently in 2007.

In the 5.6-miler, UAA runner Hallidie Witt of Unalaska won in 34:12. Katie Krehlik was nearly three minutes back.

Maryland runner Edmund Burke, 39, took the men's 5.6-miler in 29:05, with 16-year-old Jacob Kirk of Anchorage second in 30:38.4.

But outside of Wisniewski, perhaps the day's finest performance belonged to 52-year-old Vernon Campbell, the eighth-place marathoner in 2:49:13. Only one runner his age or older finished among the top 50.

Campbell won Mayor's back in 1975 as a Dimond High senior, and here he was 34 years later still among the frontrunners. Soon after he cleared the finish chute, still a little wobbly, Campbell sat down, put his head between his hands and sobbed.

"At my age," he said. "I know it's not gonna be pretty. But I was thinking the whole way how delighted I am just to be able to wake up in the morning and go for a run.

"I'm really mystified by it myself," he said of his performance. "They just seem to come to me. I tend to get very focused on one race."

Back in 1975, Campbell said, he trained up to 125 miles a week. At age 43, he joined the UAA cross-country running team for two seasons. He still logs 10 1/2 hours of training a week.

"He makes us all look a little bad," said his former coach, Friess.

Campbell's secret?

"I know what's training and what's straining," he said.

And Campbell knows what's fast. Earlier this summer he was nearly an hour into a 6 a.m. training run when an arresting moment occurred.

"I'm back in the middle of nowhere on the Coastal Trail," he said, when Wisniewski "blows by me."

"Not too many times does somebody go flying by," he said.

Only champions. Campbell knew the look.

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Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.