Sports

Former UAA runner wins Mayor's Marathon

Through 22 miles Saturday morning, David Kiplagat stamped out metronomic miles that held the promise of not only earning him victory in the Mayor's Marathon but also a race record and the $5,000 bounty that came with it.

Running alone out front, the field literally miles behind him on a gloriously sun-splashed course over paved and unpaved trails around and through the city, the former UAA All-American from Kenya clicked off mile after mile in the neighborhood of 5 minutes, 30 seconds or faster.

That performance put in jeopardy Michael Wisniewski's 2009 race record of 2:22:29.

"I was feeling really good,'' Kiplagat said.

And then he wasn't.

"At Mile 23, there was no power, no more energy,'' Kiplagat said. "But I will one day do it. Maybe next year.''

Still, while Kiplagat did not seize the record, he won by nearly 16 minutes, covering the 26.2 miles in 2:30:52. And while the big cash prize eluded Kiplagat, as the top Alaska male finisher -- Kiplagat has attended, competed and also coached at UAA the last six years -- he earned two round-trip tickets anywhere Alaska Airlines flies.

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"Maybe I'll go to Hawaii,'' Kiplagat mused.

More than 4,300 runners entered in the 38th annual Mayor's Marathon & Half-Marathon, which also features a marathon relay, half-marathon, 5.6-miler and 1.6-mile Youth Cup.

Runners and walkers came from all over the country and from international locations. Outfitted variously in shorts, tights, singlets, T-shirts, shoes and hats bearing seemingly every color in the spectrum -- and covering all sizes from short to tall and stocky to whip-thin -- the athletes soaked up the sun on the courses and upon arriving on the West High track, the common finish line for all the races.

All around were stories of speed, joy and perseverance, from Kiplagat's earnest run for the record, to Colleen Miller Bolling's women's marathon victory in her debut at the distance, to two-time leukemia survivor Bob Ashby.

Kiplagat in 2009 made his marathon debut at Mayor's, clocking 2:29:39 even though he was coming off his final track season at UAA and had not trained specifically for the taxing distance that can humble the fittest of runners.

This time around, Kiplagat, who expects to earn his master's in public administration from UAA late this year, put in a solid two and a half months of marathon training, and eyed the record and the cash windfall.

"It looked like he was on it through 22,'' said race director Michael Friess, the UAA running coach who guided Kiplagat and held the Mayor's record for 22 years before Wisniewski took it down. "Then the wheels started to fall off.

"But he made an honest attempt at it, and that's good. But that's what happens in the marathon -- the best laid plans...''

Kiplagat said his race came apart quickly in the 23rd mile, when he realized he could no longer sustain his speed.

"It was hard to maintain the pace,'' he said. "I said, 'Another year.' "

Even so, Kiplagat's time marked the 13th-fastest winning time in race history that dates back to 1974.

Brian Cooke of Redwood City, Calif., finished runner-up in the men's marathon, clocking 2:46:50, and Bixler McClure of Anchorage seized third place in 2:51:17.

In the women's marathon, Miller Bolling, 29, of Anchorage, entered her debut at the distance simply seeking to run a race that wasn't excruciating -- winning never really played into her plan. She set about reeling off mile splits of 7:30 and hardly wavered.

"I wanted a good experience for first marathon, so that's what I was shooting for,'' she said. "I had looked up previous winners and usually there's someone who runs around three hours.

"I thought top 10 would be awesome.''

Coming off the gravel and dirt tank trails along the foothills of the Chugach Mountains at Mile 15 and descending Campbell Airstrip Road, Miller Bolling discovered she was leading the women. A pacing bicyclist and her husband, Lee, who greeted her on his bike at Campbell Airstrip, delivered the news. Miller Bolling said she simply tried to maintain her pace, and that was good enough to gain the former Service High runner victory over runner-up Mandy Vincent-Lang of Anchorage (3:20:41) and third-place finisher Lan Cayton of Salinas, Calif. (3:21:26).

Miller Bolling's time (3:17:00) was the sixth-slowest by a winner in race history, but she didn't care. She gained the good experience she sought, plus two tickets on Alaska Airlines as the top Alaska female.

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"It wasn't a very competitive field, so I lucked out,'' Miller Bolling said. "But I'm pumped.''

When it comes to enthusiasm, it's almost impossible to top the folks from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program, which makes Mayor's an annual destination for fundraising efforts and outfits its crew of runners and walkers in distinctive purple gear.

Bob Ashby, a retired, 72-year-old from Las Vegas, captures the spirit of the thing. He's a two-time survivor of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who ran the half-marathon Saturday, and he's a bit of a card.

When a race announcer heralded Ashby's arrival at the finish and called him a 27-year-old, Ashby stopped, smiled and replied deadpan: "Is this the halfway point?''

Moments later, Ashby laughed, "The legs feel like 72-year-old legs, but the rest of me feels 27.''

After beating leukemia in 1999, Ashby was again diagnosed with the disease in September 2009. When he was finishing chemotherapy treatment the following spring, he was recruited by Team in Training, which startled him.

"I said, 'You do know I just finished chemo, right?' " Ashby recalled.

He figured, ah, what the heck, and set out down his neighborhood block to see how far he could run. The answer: 12 seconds.

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"I started training and if I could go 30 seconds (before walking), that was primo, and then it was a big deal when I went a minute,'' he said. "Eventually, I got to where I could do five minutes.''

In October, Ashby raised $6,500 for Team in Training and ran the Dublin Marathon. For Mayor's, he raised $4,800 and dropped down to the half-marathon because of a sore hip.

Ashby plans to run more races for Team in Training, including his first triathlon.

"At this age, if you have something on your bucket list, you better get to it,'' Ashby said.

Besides, he noted, there are added benefits to Team in Training besides enhancing his health and raising money for research to cure cancer.

"There are a lot of young women in Team in Training,'' Ashby said, raising an eyebrow. "These 25-year-olds, they pass me, and pat their butt and say, 'Chase the magnet, Bob!' "

Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

Full Mayor's Marathon results are available at www.mayorsmarathon.com

38th Mayor's Marathon & Half-Marathon

Presented by Conoco Phillips

Men's Marathon (Top 25) -- 1) David Kiplagat 2:30:52; 2) Brian Cooke 2:46:50; 3) Bixler McClure 2:51:17; 4) David Johnston 2:52:57; 5) Cody Priest 2:54:54; 6) Jared Parrish 2:57:02; 7) Mark Blanning 2:59:19; 8) Matthew Green 2:59:25; 9) Shane Hargis 3:00:30; 10) Scott Adams 3:02:47; 11) Masaya Okuyama 3:05:08; 12) James Vincent Smith 3:05:09; 13) Theodore Alder 3:07:30; 14) Jason Burkhead 3:08:03; 15) Dugan Greenwell 3:08:15; 16) Scott Voorhees 3:09:14; 17) Luke Oliver 3:10:00; 18) Keran Billaud 3:10:58; 19) Mike Vania 3:11:18; 20) Clay Crossett 3:12:19; 21) Brad Garland 3:12:22; 22) Curt Snyder 3:13:45; 23) Rick Moody 3:15:13; 24) Lee Helzer 3:15:35; 25) Mike Barry 3:17:35.

Women's Marathon (Top 25) -- 1) Colleen Miller Bolling 3:17:00; 2) Mandy Vincent-Lang 3:20:41; 3) Lan Clayton 3:21:26; 4) Karen Auteri 3:22:00; 5) Kristen Kolb 3:22:36; 6) Jenifer Rogers 3:30:08; 7) Mara Weinraub 3:30:28; 8) Laura McDonough 3:33:28; 9) Haley Hughes 3:34:38; 10) Susan Rouse 3:37:23; 11) Rebekah Jane Justice 3:37:35; 12) Kristina Case 3:37:59; 13) Ginny Kinnebrew 3:38:23; 14) Frances Connolly 3:39:22; 15) K2 Richards 3:39:43; 16) Lisa Dale 3:40:04; 17) Erika Van Flein 3:41:17; 18) Sarah Camblin 3:42:15; 19) Anne Williams 3:42:47; 20) Julie Stockwell 3:44:01; 21) Michelle Baxter 3:44:49; 22) Sheyenne Lewis 3:45:40; 23) Sarah Duffy 3:46:55; 24) Rachel Campbell 3:49:16; 25) Bridget McBride 3:49:18.

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Marathon relay (Top 5) -- 1) Siblingpalooza!! 2:58:52; 2) Recliner Tubbies Ride Again! 3:15:25; 3) Because We Can 3:15:26; 4) Team JAG 3:19:57; 5) Mob Squad 3:26:52.

Men's Half-Marathon (Top 25) -- 1) Nick Petro 1:14:52; 2) Jacob Kirk 1:14:53; 3) Brandon Fell 1:18:47; 4) Ben Wheatall 1:20:58; 5) Tommy Blair, 1:21:13; 6) Grant Stevenson 1:21:36; 7) David Valdes 1:22:12; 8) Levi Younger 1:22:30; 9) Dane Goodman 1:23:22; 10) David Minge 1:24:03; 11) Jonathan Bolha 1:24:18; 12) James Steimel 1:24:50; 13) Solomon Snyder 1:24:57; 14) Lloyd Raines 1:25:13; 15) Gregory Encelewski 1:25:52; 16) Gregory Scofield 1:26:39; 17) Gregory Schroll 1:26:46; 18) Philip Sebastiani 1:26:48; 19) Jeff Young 1:26:54; 20) Samuel Hansell 1:26:56; 21) Jared Gardner 1:27:13; 22) Todd Baldini 1:27:16; 23) Scott Clemetson 1:27:43; 24) Mike Brock 1:27:52; 25) Geoff Hotrum 1:29:05.

Women's Half-Marathon (Top 25) -- 1) Emma Bohman 1:25:56; 2) Hallidie Wilt 1:27:00; 3) Jamie Cokeley 1:28:28; 4) April Nelson 1:28:46; 5) Jocelyn Bradley 1:32:04; 6) Alida Van Almelo 1:33:29; 7) Taylor Fell 1:35:10; 8) Jane Senaga 1:35:19; 9) April Norman 1:35:36; 10) Joanne Bozek 1:36:11; 11) Amy Larsen 1:37:20; 12) Brittany Walker 1:37:27; 13) Verena Gill 1:38:10; 14) Jamie Freeman 1:38:24; 15) Alyson McPhetres 1:38:45; 16) Michelle Richards 1:38:56; 17) Paola Banchero 1:39:15; 18) Jamilah Nailor-Thompson 1:39:24; 19) Wendi Graham 1:39:47; 20) Hattie Harvey 1:40:13; 21) Katie Heath 1:40:28; 22) Amber Converse 1:41:04; 23) Sarah Alvarez 1:41:25; 24) Kristi Shea 1:41:39; 25) Tammy Root 1:41:54.

Men's 5.6-Miler (Top 25) -- 1) Ed Aramayo 30:09; 2) Jason Dowell 30:57; 3) Ryan Davis 31:05; 4) Brad Benter 34:03; 5) Thomas Wells 34:35; 6) Matthew Waddel 34:43; 7) Bob Davis 35:22; 8) Xavier Hernandez 36:05; 9) Zachariah Winkler 37:15; 10) Jeromie Sandall 37:58; 11) Josh Holland 38:26; 12) Mark Nelson 38:58; 13) Jeremy Weaver 39:15; 14) Kevin O'Grattan 39:28; 15) Kevin Thomas 39:47; 16) Jack Carney 40:23; 17) Martin Gibson 40:25; 18) Thomas Mack 40:33; 19) Steve Ashley 41:11; 20) Douglas Torgerson 41:28; 21) Matthew Krepel 41:55; 22) John Cashion 42:24; 23) Bryan Maley 42:40; 24) Benjamin Mannion 42:54; 25) Denman Ondelacy 42:54.

Women's 5.6-Miler (Top 25) -- 1) Monica Ross 34:04; 2) Madeline Jensen 37:21; 3) Kira Vincent 37:40; 4) Claire Trujillo 38:10; 5) Polly Wheeler 39:00; 6) Nicole Leman 39:19; 7) Sarah Cresap 39:46; 8) Anna Trujillo 39:46; 9) Tamara Weaver 41:01; 10) Michelle Holland 41:39; 11) Elizabeth Stevens 41:48; 12) Brooke Smetanka 42:02; 13) Bailey DeSaussure 42:21; 14) Jill Murray 42:29; 15) Tracie Haan 42:50; 16) Rebecca Jeter 42:50; 17) Michelle Witt 45:01; 18) Amy Bruecki 45:17; 19) Leann Chavez 45:27; 20) Katherine Lauver 45:45; 21) Sheri Marks 46:26; 22) Tami Vania 46:28; 23) Kseniya Melnik 46:35; 24) Shannon Faithful 47:00; 25) Brandi Barnett 47:09.

Other race winners: UAA's Emma Bohman beat teammate Hallidie Wilt to win the women's half-marathon, clocking 1:25:56 to Wilt's 1:27:00. In the men's half-marathon, Nick Petro of New Carlilse, Ohio, racked the victory by edging Jacob Kirk of Anchorage by one second -- 1:14:52 to 1:14:53. Monica Ross of Anchorage bagged the women's victory in the 5.6-miler, clocking 34:04 to breeze past Madline Jensen of Chicago, who crossed in 37:21. The men's 5.6-mile win went to Ed Aramayo of Baltimore, whose time of 30:09 topped Jason Dowell (no hometown reported) by 48 seconds. The marathon relay title went to Siblingpalooza!!, a mixed-gender team that clocked 2:58:52.

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Post your race photos: Mayor's Marathon

By DOYLE WOODY

dwoody@adn.com

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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