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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cda Marathon Winners Clear Many Hurdles Brady, Jacklin Earn Wins At 19th Annual Race

You might think running a marathon - or half marathon, for that matter - is difficult.

It is.

Sunday’s winners at the 19th annual Coeur d’Alene Marathon not only conquered endless miles, but non-running obstructions as well.

Men’s champion Mark Brady, for instance, works full time, attends night school and, on his day off, volunteers at a hospital. The Spokanite timed 2 hours, 37 minutes and 54 seconds to capture his second consecutive CdA win and his fourth overall.

Women’s champion Gayle Jacklin of Post Falls has been traveling on business for all but a handful of days for nearly three months. Three days ago, after all those weeks of juggling her training routine, she was in a hospital receiving treatment for an infection. Still, she managed a 2:59:35.

Jenny Clark, who calls Lake Tahoe and Coeur d’Alene home, won the women’s half marathon in a record time of 1:23.20. Clark, who set the marathon record of 2:55.21 last year, has been busy earning her master’s degree from the University of Nevada. She arrived in CdA at midnight on Saturday, so she was running on four hours sleep. Additionally, she was diagnosed with epilepsy in December.

Conditions weren’t conducive for records in the marathon. It was a tad warm - nearly 70 degrees - and both Brady and Jacklin could have used company.

Cliff Banister of Pendleton, Ore., finished more than 2 minutes behind Brady. Jacklin finished about 14 minutes in front of Lorraine Lees of Kelowna, British Columbia.

“You can’t run fast alone,” Brady said. “It’s always more fun to win when someone’s close to you.”

That someone in recent years has been Mark Tarr, but Tarr didn’t compete because of an illness last winter.

Brady, 34, was in second place until roughly the 10-mile mark. An unidentified runner held a 25-yard lead until he took a water stop literally. Brady took his drink on the run from the roadside volunteers and never looked back.

“This one’s special because it’s my second in a row and I don’t think anyone’s done that here,” Brady said. “It’s also kind of special because my schedule is really packed.”

So is Jacklin’s. Though her time was 19 minutes behind her personal best, her business trip was “very rewarding.” In charge of market development for Jacklin Seed Company, she has been in Toronto, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin the past two weeks.

At mid-week, she required antibiotics to treat boils that were “breaking out in twos all over,” she said.

“It takes a lot of focus to run a marathon,” Jacklin, 32, said. “(Saturday night) it finally kicked in that I had a race. I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”

Nevertheless, she was so far in front she could have stopped at the halfway point, roughly at Avondale Golf Course, and hit a bucket of balls. A large bucket.

Jacklin’s affinity for running is rubbing off on her family. She proudly pointed out that her mother Dorothy and younger sister, Laurice, ran in the half marathon.

Just getting to CdA was a marathon for half-marathon champ Clark. She flew in late Saturday night - from Reno to Oakland to Portland to Spokane.

She started slowly, but “dropped the hammer” at about 6 miles. Her time was 5 minutes faster than Angie Jones’ course record.

The 28-year-old Clark found out she had epilepsy after missing an Olympic trials qualifying standard by 1 minute.

“I ran the Cal International (marathon) and afterward I had two grand mals (seizures), so I’m on medication for epilepsy,” Clark said. “I really have to take care of myself to run a 100 miles a week.”

Wheelchair winner Michael Trujillo, of Huntington Beach, Calif., timed 1:58.05 to establish a course record by more than 5 minutes.

Spokane’s Corey Brantley, defended his men’s half-marathon title in 1:10.55. Brent King of Cheney won the wheelchair half marathon (1:00.06).

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