Miller, Greer win CdA marathon
The lyrics to the classic song “North to Alaska” may have been changed to “South to Coeur d’Alene” Sunday at the Coeur d’Alene Marathon.
Shawn Miller, 25, of Juneau, Alaska, blew away the men’s field by nearly 20 minutes, finishing in 2 hours, 37 minutes and 23 seconds on the scenic-but-warmer-than-usual 26-mile course that begins and ends at North Idaho College. Tony Phillippi, 43, of Tacoma and Jake Dietz, 19, of Mead, Wash., were second and third, respectively. Bill Buley, 45, finished 10th and was the top local competitor on the men’s side.
Brenda Greer, 46, of Spokane took top women’s honors, finishing in 3:23:55, five minutes ahead of second-place Karice Scott, 34, and 20 minutes ahead of popular perennial participant Gunhild Swanson, 60, of Spokane. Molly Obetz of Post Falls earned top local honors on the women’s side, crossing the finish line in seventh place.
The event, in its 28th year, enjoyed record participation with about 300 competitors in the full marathon and over 1,000 running in the popular sister race half-marathon.
Nicolle Clutter, a Post Falls High School grad who attended NIC and now takes courses at Eastern Washington University, posted a 1:25:03 to win the women’s side of the half-marathon by just under a minute over Nikki Kimball of Bozeman, Mont. Heather McLaughlin, 33, of Spokane finished third.
Spokane’s Steve Vandenburg, 19, won the men’s half-marathon by nearly 2 1/2 minutes, coming in at 1:13:21 in front of second-place Zach Blume, 24, of St. Louis and Ian Chestnut, 20, of Spokane. Taylor Neal, 19, of Coeur d’Alene in eighth place was the top local finisher.
Miller, who works as an accountant for the state of Alaska, said the temperature – even at the 7 a.m. start time – and the elevation of the route were both a little higher than he would have liked.
“It’s a very hard course because of the elevation and the heat and wind made it even more difficult, so I didn’t run as fast as I normally do,” said Miller, a marathoner since 2002 who was participating in the CdA race for the first time. “But the event was very well organized and very well done.
“I was very appreciative of everything the folks who put the race on did to make us comfortable.”
Clutter, who runs track at Eastern, said she got some much-needed help from friend McGlaughlin during the 13-mile race.
“Heather and I were going back and forth for about the first 10 miles and we were really helping each other before it started to get really hot out there,” said Clutter, fifth a year ago and running the half-marathon for the third time. “At that point, I was deciding if I wanted to go for it or wait until we got to the dike road area and I decided ‘I better do it now.’ So I just picked it up a little and was able to pull away.”
Craig Deitz, Jake’s father and the top finisher in the marathon’s 45-49 age group, said the races were a family affair.
“My son was running a marathon for the first time, and he did pretty well,” Deitz said. “My wife, Jane, and my daughter, Shiloh, ran in the half-marathon and we have two younger kids that aren’t quite old enough yet.
“We’ll get them out here soon, though.”
Race co-director Judy Shannon of CdA said she couldn’t be happier with the way the event turned out.
“I think everybody had a great time,” Shannon said. “We had a gal and her two daughters who were all dressed in pink that did the half that were great, we had a guy doing his fortieth marathon today and we even had an 8-year-old boy running.
“I was lucky enough to be out on the course encouraging all the runners, so I had a lot of fun.”