Georgia racers dominated the leaderboard of a warm Publix Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday.
Justin Gillette of Goshen, Ind. won the marathon in 2 hours, 32 minutes and 43 seconds, while Rome’s Jill Horst was the first female finisher (3:00:52), Rockmart’s Reuben Mwei (1:05:30) won the half marathon and Signal Mountain, Tenn.’s Lanni Marchant (1:14:06) was the first female finisher in the half marathon. Twenty runners from Georgia finished among the top 25 overall finishers in the marathon, and 17 finished among the top 25 in the half marathon.
Perhaps no one was happier to see the finish line in Centennial Olympic Park than Sean Blanton, who started running from Athens to Atlanta on Saturday, and finished by competing in the marathon. He covered more than 100 miles in less than 27 hours to raise awareness for cancer research.
He and a small group of friends started from The Arch in Athens at 10 a.m. Saturday and finished in Atlanta at 4 a.m. Blanton, who participates in ultra-marathons, said he experienced stomach pain during the run to Atlanta, and more stomach pain began to affect him four miles from the finish line of the marathon. He considered quitting, but the discomfort went away and he finished in 4:59:58. He said they raised more than $10,000.
“I feel great,” he said, adding he may make the run an annual event.
Of more than 15,000 competitors, seven had to be taken to local hospitals as temperatures of 60 degrees at the 7 a.m. start time climbed to 74 degrees around noon and reached 80 by 2 p.m. as the last of the field finished. The runners were hospitalized with symptoms ranging from low blood sugar to a heart-related condition. One was released on Sunday. The rest were in stable condition on Sunday, according to race organizers. None of the racer's names were provided by race organizers, citing privacy laws.
“Today, we did have the heat but the runners performed well and took the proper precautions,” race director Jeff Graves said. "From the feedback we got and what we saw the race was terrific."
Because organizers expected conditions as much as 15 degrees warmer than last year’s, Graves took additional steps to provide for the racers’ safety. In addition to emailing the competitors three times during the week with expected conditions, spray stations were set up every six miles, wet towels were given out at mile 18 and at the finish line and a cooling bus followed the field to take on competitors who were experiencing trouble. The race started under a green flag, considered good conditions, but was switched to a yellow flag, symbolizing take care, by 10:15 a.m.
“You could tell they knew what they were doing [about the heat],” said Gillette, who was participating in the event for the first time and said he has won 40 marathons. “They had personnel everywhere, they were ready to manage it.”
After a cool morning, Gillette said the day started to heat up as he passed second-place finisher Andrew Heath of Atlanta at mile 22, which is also when he began to catch up to racers in the half marathon.
“I used their cheering to propel me,” Gillette, 29, said. He and Horst said they were concerned about the runners behind them as the temperature began to climb, but said they appreciated the various things being done to help them.
It was the second consecutive year Heath (2:36:44) has finished second. Jynocel Basweti, the two-time defending champ, registered for the race but didn’t compete.
None of the winners had much competition in their events. Mwei won by more than four minutes, Gillette by three, and Horst and Marchant each won by more than a minute. Horst, the defending champ in the half marathon said she had originally planned to enter that race, but changed her mind a week ago and entered the 26.2-mile race instead. Marchant, a lawyer, set a personal best.
“It’s a tough, but fun course,” Horst, 33, said. “I saw parts of Atlanta I haven’t seen before.”
Men’s Top 25 Marathon finishers
1. Justin Gillette (Goshen, Ind.) 2:32:43
2. Andrew Heath (Atlanta) 2:36:14
3. Brady Bennett (Rome) 2:40:12
4. Juan Soto (Gainesville) 2:46:34
5. Gary Krugger (Flagstaff, Ariz.) 2:49:34
6. Ryan McClay (Atlanta) 2:50:40
7. Enrique Sanchez (Atlanta) 2:51:28
8. Philip Blong (Albuquerque, N.M.) 2:56:57
9. James Bickelhaupt (Smyrna) 2:58:23
10. Humayun Zafar (Kennesaw) 2:58:50
11. Martin Bett (Decatur) 2:59:21
12. John French (Roswell) 2:59:53
13. Andrew Clarke (Atlanta) 3:00:23
14. Matthew Auers (Kennesaw) 3:00:27
15. Christopher Ciamarra (Alpharetta) 3:01:30
16. Tommy Jones (Blairsville) 3:03:54
17. Niel Brewer (Atlanta) 3:04:01
18. Nathan Snider (Greensburg, Pa.) 3:04:07
19. John Scott (Dunwoody) 3:05:04
20. Matthew Fisher (Austin, Texas) 3:07:02
21. Pablo Henderson (Atlanta) 3:08:18
22. Kevin Davies (Atlanta) 3:08:50
23. Matthew Leitten (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) 3:09:03
24. Neil Struby (Decatur) 3:09:19
25. Brent Fields (Covington) 3:09:42
Women’s Top 25 Marathon finishers
1. Jill Horst (Rome) 3:00:52
2. Mary Chind (Decatur) 3:02:29
3. Patricia Coppel (Atlanta) 3:05:52
4. Grace Thacker (New Orleans) 3:14:43
5. Barbara Garner (Buford) 3:17:54
6. Katie McClay (Atlanta) 3:19:08
7. Allyson Weimer (Tulsa, Okla.) 3:20:07
8. Jacquelyn King (Douglasville) 3:21:32
9. Megan Natale (Conygham, Pa.) 3:22:00
10. Monica Huff (Athens) 3:23:43
11. Jennifer Watts (Atlanta) 3:24:14
12. Maria Ceresoli (Cumming) 3:24:48
13. Mary Flaws (Waukesha, Wis.) 3:25:52
14. Wendy Miller (Waukesha, Wis.) 3:26:13
15. Brenda Herrington (McDonough) 3:26:51
16. Anna Arrington (Marietta) 3:27:59
17. Natalie Fischer (Marietta) 3:28:38
18. Tara Harris (Marietta) 3:28:58
19. Constance Harrell (Atlanta) 3:29:15
20. Amy Wolff (Enterprise, Ala.) 3:29:15
21. Jean Traub (Alexandria, Va.) 3:31:15
22. Betsy Ryan (Winter Park, Fla.) 3:31:49
23. Holly Jimenez (Roswell) 3:32:45
24. Aya Takeichi (Jersey City, N.J.) 3:33:31
25. Katherine Miltner (Philadelphia) 3:33:50
Men’s Top 25 Half Marathon Finishers
1. Reuben Mwei (Rockmart) 1:05:30
2. Emmanuel Ngatuny (Marietta) 1:09:48
3. Jared Carson (Atlanta) 1:10:57
4. Alan Black (Hillsboro) 1:13:19
5. Jeremy Moujoodi (Hoover, Ala.) 1:13:53
6. Ben Clarke (Morristown, N.J.) 1:14:03
7. Peyton Hoyal (Thomaston) 1:14:19
8. Jesse Rappole (Atlanta) 1:15:30
9. Scott Lowe (Canton) 1:15:48
10. Brennan Pratt (Decatur) 1:15:49
11. Bradley Adams (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1:15:49
12. Eric Malkowski (Boulder, Colo.) 1:15:50
13. Jason Veclotch (Tyrone) 1:16:19
14. Jason Dressler (Atlanta) 1:17:06
15. Jordan Turner (Canton) 1:17:17
16. Daniel Moss (Simpsonville, S.C.) 1:17:30
17. Lucas Andrews (Atlanta) 1:18:24
18. Joe Rao IV (Atlanta) 1:19:06
19. Woody Dover (Decatur) 1:19:26
20. Andrew Kalley (New York) 1:19:59
21. Luis Herrera (Lilburn) 1:20:31
22. Alex Solomon (Atlanta) 1:20:52
23. Steven Bothe (Newnan) 1:21:20
24. Alec Blenis (Roswell) 1:21:35
25. Ryan Bull (Atlanta) 1:22:35
Women’s Top 25 Half Marathon finishers
1. Lanni Marchant (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) 1:14:06
2. Risper Gesabwa (Marietta) 1:15:47
3. Justyna Mudy (Rome) 1:17:51
4. Meagan Nedlo (Charlotte) 1:19:59
5. Lauren Blankenship (Atlanta) 1:22:46
6. Malia Mullen (Edgewater, Colo.) 1:23:55
7. Shawanna White (Stone Mountain) 1:24:08
8. Daniel Lipton (Atlanta) 1:26:26
9. Marjorie Wilcox (Cumming) 1:26:38
10. Cara Puckett (Atlanta) 1:27:01
11. Haley Chura (Atlanta) 1:27:09
12. Michelle McKenzie (Flowery Branch) 1:27:40
13. Alexandra Lonergan (Atlanta) 1:28:36
14. Erika Shaughnessy (Douglasville) 1:29:07
15. Dara Steele-Belkin (Atlanta) 1:29:20
16. Laurie Knowles (Atlanta) 1:29:22
17. Jessica Bennett (Alpharetta) 1:30:04
18. Laura Gold (Atlanta) 1:30:04
19. Shelley Gordon (Dunwoody) 1:30:21
20. Meghan Mason (Auburn, Ala.) 1:31:04
21. Yvonne Bedell (Atlanta) 1:31:05
22. Emily Milian (Atlanta) 1:31:24
23. Aimee Risher (Smyrna) 1:32:05
24. Candace Harrison (Atlanta) 1:32:06
25. Laura Unverzagt (Duluth) 1:32:11
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