Runners, Walkers Pound Pavement at the Missoula Marathon
By Robert Struckman, 7-13-08
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| Half-marathoners cross the Higgins Avenue bridge. | |
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Right at the five-hour mark, 43-year-old Betsy Cohen of Missoula finished her first marathon, trotting with a sure and steady pace.
The Missoula Marathon is a community event. As marathons go, it’s on the smaller end. It’s in its second year and had 1,421 registered runners and walkers for the 26.2- and 13.1-mile lengths, according to one un-official count. As was the case last year, this year’s race bought in hundreds of first-timers like Cohen. There was also a sampling of long-time local runners, as well as the kind of veterans who seem to show up, tough and wizened, whenever an interesting race materializes.
The course began in Frenchtown and finished at the north end of the Higgins Avenue bridge under a giant arch of multi-colored balloons. At 7 a.m. the crowd was sparse. The fastest half-marathoners were still about 10 minutes out. The sun had only recently risen, bright over Mount Jumbo, into an already-hot blue sky. As the morning became midday, spectators lined the walkways of the bridge and cheered the runners to the end. Volunteers hung medals around the necks of the finishers. Kids hugged their parent-runners. See the results here.
The marathon is a project of Run Wild Missoula, a local nonprofit running club. Its organizer is Jennifer Straughan, who wants to welcome runners and walkers of all abilities to the club and its signature race. As the runners streamed through the finish, Straughan beamed with relief and exhaustion. “Everything has been going so well. It’s nice to be in the second year. We have a list of things to improve, but no disasters,” she said. Long before the end of the race, its 6 a.m. start in Frenchtown was already on YouTube.
Now and then, an extra-loud cheer would take hold of the crowd as a costumed runner, say, or a pair of runners holding hands came over the bridge toward the finish.
One couple who raised their hands was 47-year-old Sue and 44-year-old Andrew O’Brien of Australia. The two have a goal typical of uber-athletes for whom a single marathon no longer poses a significant challenge. They’re running eight marathons in eight countries in eight weeks. Missoula was week five.
On Monday, the couple will fly to Thailand to compete in the next race. The definition they’re using for “marathon” is a surprising one. It involves nothing shorter than the classic 26.2-mile length, but one significantly longer: the 55-mile Comrades ultra-marathon in South Africa. They’re also running in Mauritius, Brazil, Canada (at Calgary), Thailand, Switzerland and, finally, at a race in Australia near their home.
Their self-funded stunt raises money for the charity Oxfam. (Sue’s uncle was the Australian running great Ron Clarke, who is perhaps most famous in the United States for losing to Billy Mills in the 10K at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Sue was a world-class triathlete in her prime.) Sue and Andrew crossed the finish line shortly after the four-hour-mark. Like Cohen, even after the grueling distance, the pair passed beneath the arch fresh and smiling.
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