The 12th St. Croix International Marathon…
Calvin Dallas of St. Thomas, a two-time Olympic marathon runner for the Virgin Islands (Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992) and now a sixty-one year-old masters runner, won the 26.2-mile 12th St. Croix International Marathon on St. Croix on Sunday morning with an impressive time of 3 hours 22 minutes and 15 seconds. It was the third time he has won this race and the second time on the north shore of the island. He holds the V.I. national record for the marathon with a time of 2:27.23 run in 1988 in Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad. In the early going and in the dark with the 5am start, Billy Bohlke of St. Croix, also a two-time winner of this race (Jan. 2009 and Dec. 2009 course change) and V.I. national record holder for distances 1500m to 5K, led the small group of runners and finished second in 3:42.09. Brad Endres of St. Thomas finished third in 3:51.02.
Bridget Campbell of St. Croix took the female title in the race. It was her second marathon, and she led from the start to finish with a time of 3:43.45, which placed her in third place overall in the race. After touring the course on Saturday, Mette Udsen of Soberg, Denmark, decided to switch from the 13.1 half-marathon to the marathon and was the second place female. Her time was 3:48.02. Defending champion and V.I. Olympic Marathon Runner in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Ana Gutierrez of St. Croix finished third in the race; her time was 3:09.05.
For full results and photos: logon to: http://virginislandspace.org
The 39th Virgin Islands Half-Marathon…
A group of four in the lead early on in the race made it a bit competitive with Juan Robles of St. Croix, Shane Degannes of St. Thomas, Benny Swift of Wisconsin and Alexander Alvira of Puerto Rico in the mix. Robles was the race winner and V.I. Champion for his fourth V.I. Half-Marathon 13.1-mile victory, which was run in conjunction with the marathon starting an hour later (6 a.m.). The runners would finish in that order…Robles in 1:24.24; Degannes in 1:32.00; Swift in 1:35.33 and Alvira in 1:41.10.
Ruth Ann David of St. Thomas added a victory to her string of V.I. Championships as she took the lead early in the half-marathon and cruised to the finish with a first place time of 1:36.13. She was also the defending champion and fourth overall in the race. Theresa Harper of St. Croix, a multiple winner of both the marathon and the half-marathon, finished second in 1:43.39 for fifth overall. Diane Godown of St. Croix was third in1:50.54.
For full results and more photos logon to: http://virginislandspace.org
Race Notes:
1] Both The 12th St. Croix International Marathon and the 39th V.I. Half-Marathon are V.I. Championships sanctioned by the Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation. Runners winning titles: Calvin Dallas V.I. Marathon Champion overall and masters; Bridget Campbell V.I. Marathon Champion overall; Juan Robles V.I. Half-Marathon Champion; Ruth Ann David V.I. Half-Marathon Champion overall and masters. Masters is 35 years and older.
2] Cicilie Skog, a professional adventurer from Norway, and Truls Svendsen, a popular radio and media personality in Oslo, Norway, ran the V.I. Half-Marathon on Sunday. They made a special trip to St. Croix for the race and to use it as preparation for their planned trek across the Arctic Circle.
3] Brent Weigner of Cheyenne, Wyoming, ran the St. Croix Marathon after running the Mount Everest Marathon three weeks ago and is the first ultra-marathon runner to run an ultra-marathon (more than 26.2 miles) on every continent.
4] Vicent Ma of San Jose, California, started running marathons in 2008; his first was the Big Sur Marathon in California. Sunday’s race was number 344 for him…he runs a marathon or an ultra-marathon every weekend. Next week, he will run a trail marathon in Brandenburg, Kentucky, and his last one for the year is in Honolulu, Hawaii.
5] Mike Klein, V.I. Ultra-Marathon Champion, the fifth place finisher on Sunday in the marathon and the owner of Jolly Roger Buck Island Tours, made an offer to all marathon participants: “Beat Captain Mike and get ½ price on Trip to Buck Island or a Sunset Sail”
6] This year, the course for the races was switched to the north shore of the island due to the physical condition of the road. The course Sunday contained rolling hills at the beginning and the end of both races, which were run on the same roads with different start points. Both races finished at Arawak Bay…The Inn at Salt River.
7] According to Race Founder/Director Wallace Williams, the route took the runners through portions adjacent to Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Natural Ecological Preserve. It contains the point where Christopher Columbus anchored in 1493; it contains the only Tainan ceremonial ball court or plaza found in the Lesser Antilles. The park is managed jointly by the National Park Service of the U.S.A. and the Department of Natural Resources of the Virgin Islands.
