With about 8,000 participants in distances from 50 meters to 26.2 miles, Publix Atlanta Marathon Weekend featured nearly everything.
The event had sunny skies and downpours, the fastest half marathons run in the state and a world age-group record by 97-year-old Betty Lindberg.
Breaking the tape Sunday in the marathon were Shlomo Fishman, 30, of Silver Spring, Maryland, in 2 hours, 37 minutes, 32 seconds, and Amanda Furrer of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in a chip time of 3:02:47. Furrer won despite starting in Wave C, eight minutes behind the first non-elite runners.
“At Mile 18, I just decided I needed to get out of the rain. So, I picked it up a little bit and just went for it."
“I was alone for a while, so the cyclist on the course just started telling everyone my name. So people kept cheering for me. It was awesome!” Furrer said in a news release.
Fishman took a more pragmatic view. “At Mile 18, I just decided I needed to get out of the rain,” said Fishman, who ran a personal best in his first marathon victory. “So, I picked it up a little bit and just went for it.”
Two Kenyans ran the fastest half marathons on Georgia soil.
Breaking the state and course records for 13.1 miles were Nicholas Kosimbei and Dorcas Tuitoek.
Kosimbei, 25, was victorious in 1:00:36, topping the previous Georgia mark of 1:03:59.
Tuitoek won in 1:08:22, edging the record of 1:08:29 set last year by Molly Seidel, who won a bronze medal in the Olympic Games marathon.
Kosimbei broke away early, going through 10 kilometers in 28:42.
“I was expecting to break the course record,” he said in a news release.
Finishing as the top American man, sixth overall, in the half marathon was a familiar face: Matt McDonald, now running for the Boston Athletic Association who previously competed for Atlanta Track Club.
“It’s fun to run by so many of my old spots,” said McDonald, who finished in 1:05:32.
Credit: Paul Ward
Credit: Paul Ward
In the women’s half marathon, Tuitoek, 24, also took command early.
Tuitoek, running only her second race in the U.S., called it “a great day. I prepared well to run the hills.”
Winning her 95+ division was Lindberg, an Atlanta Track Club legend who recently turned 97. Her time of 55:48 set a world age-group record, topping the previous mark by more than 30 minutes.
