great finish! - Seattle Marathon

6
A PERFECT RUNNING DAy GREETS THOUSANDS OF PARTICIPANTS
IN THE AMICA INSURANCE SEATTLE MARATHON 2010
By MARTIN RUDOW, EDITOR,
NORTHWEST RUNNER MAGAzINE
As Sunday, November 28 slowly
dawned, 11,000 + runners and
walkers looked skywards with some
apprehension to see what kind of day
we would have for the 40th anniversary
of the Seattle Marathon.
This year’s Amica Insurance Seattle
Marathon was held after a week
of dodgy weather that included a
snowstorm that just about shut the
city down. But the traditional last-
Sunday-of-the-the-month date kept its
generally good record and when all was
said and done, or walked and run, it
had been a perfect day for covering
13.1 or 26.2 miles.
The Seattle Marathon kept its end
of the bargain about being a peoples’
marathon; the winning times of the
four events: men’s and women’s full
and half marathons were not the
fastest ever but the fields were deep
and competitive.
The 2010 Amica Insurance Seattle
Marathon male winner was Teshome
Kokebe, an Ethiopian runner who
has been living and running here for
several months. At the start it was
another runner, Thomas Kamau of
Kenya, who got the attention and
media spotlight, as it was reported that
he brought recent sub-2:20 marathon
credentials with him, one of the
best of anyone on the starting field.
Credentials aside, it was Kokebe who
jumped to an immediate lead and held
it throughout the race. As is often the
case at the top of the Seattle Marathon,
it was not a dramatic come-frombehind
effort that took the prize, but
a strong early move that dared anyone
to hold on. By the Floating Bridge split,
where the half marathoners turn off
and full folks go straight ahead across
the bridge, Kokebe had a decent-sized
lead and looked relaxed enough to
hold it — which he did. A good race
for second went on between John Riak
and Jesse Stevick, both veterans of the
local running wars, until the last miles
when Stevick fell back. Stevick’s final
time of 2:32.50 was just a tick off last
year’s second placing time of 2:33.33.
This year he was 38 seconds behind
Riak.
Not a lot is known about Kokebe,
although he reportedly won an
international marathon in Geneva
earlier this year. He was not happy
with his time, stating that the
conditions were ideal and he was
capable of running much faster on such
a day. Veteran onlookers had to agree,
the cool but not cold temperatures and
filtered sunshine were ideal for fast
THE AMICA INSURANCE SEATTLE MARATHON 2010 RESULTS ISSUE
running. As it was, Uli Steidl’s 2005
course record of 2:24.24 is safe for
another year.
The women’s feature saw an
apparently easy win for Ft. Lewis
runner Sabine Pullins, a name not
familiar to most of us. Pullins reported
that she had cannily scouted the
course on elevation maps, so despite
not having previously run it she paced
herself perfectly to be strong for the
hills. And strong she was, on the hills
as well as elsewhere, as she eventually
won by five minutes over Beaverton,
Oregon’s Becky Manuel. Pullins led her
division from the start, her tall slim
figure with hair pulled back made it a
bit difficult to spot her as first women
as she sped by with an accompanying
pack of male runners. A mother of
two teenagers, Pullins moves with her
husband wherever the Army transfers
them, so how long she will be racing in
our area is hard to predict. It was her
12th marathon.
Completely hidden from view
except by those who know them,
another battle for first was taking
place — the always hotly-contested
master’s titles. Larry Nightingale from
British Columbia won that men’s crown
with a good 2:53.31. Larry is 47. Mary
Hanna won the women’s side of the
master’s division with a 3:14.10. Mary