On June 15-16, the 2019 Timberline Marathon and Half Marathon took place, with hundreds of runners from the Gorge area and beyond coming together at the Clackamas Ranger Station, where the race would start and finish. The course took runners around an outline of Timothy Lake, heading out along the eastern shore and returning on the southern.
There were three races between both days, with the marathon and first half marathon taking place on June 15 and the second half marathon on June 16. While the marathon was a standard distance of 26.2 miles, both half marathons were 14.4 miles, slightly above the standard 13.1 miles. The marathon started bright and early at 8:30 a.m. and saw 68 runners take their marks. It took 6:40:23 for all runners to finish, with 29-year-old James Ferris winning the overall event in 3:28:24. The top women’s finish came from 40-year-old Janessa Taylor, who placed fifth overall in a time of 3:46:15. The oldest racer was 72-year-old Mun Kang, who completed the marathon in 6:21:21, and the youngest was 17-year-old Sam Monson, who finished in 5:48:05.
The first half marathon began at 10 a.m. with 264 runners taking off. The race lasted 4:35:58, and it was 33-year-old Joe Sepe who took first place with a time of 1:35:01, nearly ten minutes ahead of second. The top female racer was 30-year-old Brooke Carmen who recorded a time of 1:47:35 and placed fifth overall. Raymond Peterson (3:37:22) was the oldest racer to complete the half marathon at 74-years-old, while Lily Roller (2:01:15) was the youngest at 12-years-old. Roller’s time placed her 21st overall.
The second half marathon took place at 9:30 a.m. and had 86 participants. The race ended after 4:34:00, and 15-year-old Jack Grim, an incoming sophomore at Hood River Valley High School, won the event in a time of 1:40:31. Grim was the youngest participant in the field. The fastest female was 29-year-old Sarah O’Shaughness, who placed sixth overall with a time of 1:54:29. The oldest participant was 67-year-old David Erwin, who completed the race in 2:28:30, a time that saw him take 32nd.
Grim’s finish saw him edge 34-year-old Patrick McKinney, who led for the latter half of the race and finished second in 1:40:55, just 24 seconds behind Grim. Both runners averaged 7:00/mile throughout the race. Prior to this year, Grim was not an avid runner, preferring sports like soccer and lacrosse. He intends to pursue long-distance running and will join the cross country team in the fall.
Commented