great finish! - Seattle Marathon

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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
is a long-time local marathon contestant and has won several top local races. On the other end, two local 16-year-olds ran fast marathons to break the three-hour mark: Keegan Symmes 2:56.19 and Matt Haggerty 2:57.07. Fields were huge for the men’s and women’s half races, they streamed by the starting line for what seemed to be 15 minutes or so. And once the main field had run over the line, stragglers kept appearing out of nowhere to join their long-since-departed fellow runners. It was quite a scene. Steve Crane of Rainier, Washington, came into the race with some of the fastest times in the field for 10K and had taken a strong third overall at the Victoria Marathon Half a month earlier, so was ready for a fast effort here. His time of 1:10.39 was good enough for a comfortable win over Angelo Baca (1:11.58). In the Women’s Half, Shelia Croft took a 30-second win over former local prep star Megan Johnson. So much for the leaders. The day was about so much more than who was in the lead. For that matter, so was the entire three-day weekend. The Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon Health & Fitness Expo kicked off the three days on Friday the 26th with record crowds, manning a booth was a real treat as time passed swiftly with so much constant attention at the booths. Lots of free goodies as well as bargain-priced shoes. Saturday saw two events: the Seattle Marathon 5K Race: presented by Road Runner Sports, just in its third year but already drawing a good field. The Seattle Children’s Kids Marathon, an event now being copied all around the country, drew 2,337 contestants this year in what is always a very upbeat 1.2-miles for participants as well as onlookers — you rarely see so many smiles. When everything was done Sunday night and the Seattle Marathon’s Brian Oster guided the last marathon finisher into the Stadium, it was time to tally up the very impressive numbers. According to official results, 2,876 signed up for the full marathon, and 2,351 finished (the difference are more no-shows than dnf’s). 188 people started the day’s first event, the full marathon walk and only 37 failed to cross the finish line. The Really Big Event, the Half, saw 8,943 signed up with 7,668 finishing. The Half Walk, an official event, saw 1,282 signed up and 1,053 finishing. We wish we could say how many came through the Expo. It was thousands, maybe more than 40,000, as everyone seemed to bring family and friends with them to pick up their numbers and scarff down a few free goodies. Marathons everywhere are on growth pattern. With 16,764 total participants, a record, in the weekend’s events, the Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon is right up there in healthy growth and happy participants. FOR INTERACTIVE RACE RESULTS VISIT US ONLINE AT seattlemarathon.org 7
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great finish! - Seattle Marathon

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