TCS LONDON MARATHON (posted April 27th)

The men's and women's world marathon records fell at Sunday's TCS London Marathon--a race that, unlike Berlin or Chicago, isn't known for record-setting performances. (The last time the men's record was set in London was in 2002.)

Not only was the men's record broken, but after years of speculation as to when the magical 2:00:00 milestone would be broken, it finally happened. Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won in 1:59:30, more than a minute faster than the late Kelvin Kiptum's world record of 2:00:35 set at the Chicago Marathon in 2023. (Sawe's personal best had been 2:02:05.)  Second-place finisher Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia also broke Kiptum's record, crossing the line 11 seconds after Sawe.

The women's winner, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, broke her own world record--set last year in London--by nine seconds, finishing in 2:15:41.

There are a number of videos on YouTube with race highlights.  Here's a good one, and if you only want to watch the last 10 minutes of the men's race, check out this.

You can read a New York Post article about the race here.

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FRISCO RAILROAD RUN  (posted April 27th)

The 18th annual Frisco Railroad Run (50M/50K/marathon/half/8K) held on Saturday in Willard had 439 total finishers, up 4% from last year. Four runners from the Lake area were among them.  All four competed in the marathon.  Here are their results:

Complete results can be found here.

Here are the number of race finishers each year since 2016:

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GARMIN OLATHE MARATHON, HALF MARATHON &10K  (posted April 27th)

One runner from the Lake area competed at the Garmin Olathe Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K in Kansas City on Saturday. 

Callie McDonald of Eldon, who ran the 10K in 2024 before stepping up to the half marathon last year, returned to do the half marathon again this year, and finished in 3:11:19.  That placed Callie 26th (of 55) in the women's 55-59 age group.

Complete results can be found here.

Total participation at this year's race was up an impressive 24% from last year, and the highest since 2018.  Here are the number of finishers, by race distance, since 2016:

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BOSTON MARATHON (posted April 20th)

This year's Boston Marathon was very much like a repeat of last year's. In the men's race, last year's winner, John Korir of Kenya, pulled away at the 20-mile mark--just like he did last year--and succeeded in his goal this year of also breaking the course record (2:03:02), a record that's stood since 2011.  He won in 2:01:52, and breaking the record earned him an extra $50,000.

In the women's race, Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, who won last year's race in a women's record time of 2:17:22, pulled ahead at about the 20-mile mark and won in 2:18:51.

A half-dozen American women worked together (they even moved ahead of the pack briefly for some camera time and spread out six across), but the east African started dropping them one-by-one around the 16-18-mile mark.  Still, four of them ended up in the top ten. Jess McClain of Arizona, the fastest American, took fifth, finishing in 2:20:49.  She beat Shalane Flanagan's record for American women at Boston.  The American men didn't fare so well.  

Finisher a little further down in the results was Bobbi Snodgrass of Lake Ozark.  This was at least the eighth appearance for Bobbi at Boston. (She ran a 2027 Boston qualifying time last fall in Chicago, so she may be returning yet again.)   Bobbi finished in 4:19:20, placing 476th in the women's 60-64 age group.

When it comes to searching for results of Lake-area or Missouri finishers, Boston's results are about as useless as Athlinks. If you don't know who did the race, you're out of luck.

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THE 24 HOUR LIONS ROAR  (posted April 20th)

I don't have many details, but the severe storms that rolled through the Lake area and most of Missouri on Friday evening night also hit Columbia, where The 24 Hour Lions Roar (Facebook page) race was scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m.  (I do know that about 2-1/2 inches of rain fell, and that the course had to be changed.)  The race did go on, and the results have been posted at the race's UltraSignup.com page.

Three Lake-area runners were among the fifty who competed in the 24-hour race.  Another 22 and 15 runners competed in the 12-hour and 6-hour races, respectively.

Kim Sovcik was the only local who also competed last year.  Kim completed 40 miles this year--exactly the same as last year.

Lions Roar first-timers Maverick Sovcik (Kim's 17 year-old son) ran 20 miles, and Brandon Goring of Camdenton completed 15 miles. 

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IRONMAN TEXAS TRIATHLON (posted April 20th)

The Lake area has another Ironman finisher in its ranks.  Early last year, Camden Schmitz moved to Osage Beach from Lebanon.  Camden has run a number of marathons and other running races, in addition to finishing the Ironman Florida Triathlon in 2023.  (I don't believe he's done any of our local races.)

On Saturday at The Woodlands, Texas (just north of Houston), Camden finished Ironman Texas (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run) in an impressive 12:11:24.  (That's the second fastest finish for a Lake-area Ironman finisher.  Only Trevor Dowdney has gone faster--a 12:09:45 finish at Ironman Louisville in 2007.)

Here are Camden's splits:

Swim:               1:24:32
Transition 1:          6:23
Bike:                 6:12:34
Transition 2:          9:03
Run:                 4:18:51
Finish:            12:11:24

His finish time placed Camden 146th (of 291) in the men's 25-29 age group.

The winner of the race was a Norwegian who finished in a truly incredible 7:21:24.  Check out his splits:

Swim:                  48:33  (1:16 per 100 meters)
Transition 1:          2:39
Bike:                 3:57:46  (28.4 mph)
Transition 2:          1:40
Run:                 2:30:47  (5:35/mile)

The race was marred by tragedy.   A 38 year-old Brazilian "fitness influencer" drowned during the swim portion of the race. Drowning deaths are fairly rare during triathlons, but they do happen. Here's a Fox News story on the tragedy.

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World half marathon record broken ... by a robot: You may vaguely recall the half marathon held in Beijing around this time last year, where robots performed very poorly against their human competitors. (The fastest one took 2:40:xx to finish the course.)  That was definitely not the case at this past weekend's race. The robots, or "humanoids", performed remarkably better, and the fastest fully-autonomous robot finished in 50:26--a pace of 3:51 per mile--easily beating the human world record of 57:20 set in March.  You can read about it here or here.

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LAKE OF THE OZARKS ENDURANCE RUNS  (posted April 4th)

The Trail of Four Winds 25K trail race, LOZ Traverse 35-mile trail run/paddling race, and Wandering Bobcat 5-mile trail race will take place at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park on Saturday, May 2nd.

For all the race details and registration information, please visit the event's UltraSignup page, Ha Ha Racing Event's website, or the Lake of the Ozarks Endurance Runs' Facebook page.  Slots are currently available for all three races.

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RUN WITH THE COPS, NOT FROM THE COPS 5K/10K (posted April 13th)

The Miller County Sheriff's Association's Run with the Cops, Not from the Cops 5K/10K will be held on Saturday, May 30th, at the Air Park (adjacent to the aquatic center) in Eldon. The race starts at 8:00 a.m.  

Entry fees are $35 for the 10K and $25 for the 5K.

Race t-shirts can only be guaranteed for those who register by May 17th.

Click on this QR Code to register:

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