The Illinois Marathon Report

They had good conditions, good runners and overall good numbers today in Champaign-Urbana for the inaugural Illinois Marathon, which also included a half-marathon and 5K. With the level (as in flat) playing field, times were darned good. In the marathon, Jacob Kendagor of Coon Rapids, MN, took home the gold with a 2:26:12. He was joined on the Memorial Stadium podium by runner-up Lars Juhl of Chicago (2:27:15) and third-place finisher Ben Schneider of St. Paul, MN (2:28:29). The women's top three went like this: Megan Kennihan of LaGrange (2:55:06), Krista Colberg of Rock Island (2:58:33) and Tracy Wollschlager of Novi, MI (3:01:52). Male half-marathoners were led by Jeff Jonaitis (JJ) of Tinley Park in 1:11:27. Ryan Giuliano of Schaumburg was a close second in 1:11:45 and John Njorogue of Coon Rapids, MN was third in 1:14:04. Bridget Montgomery of Chicago won the women's half in 1:22:26. She was followed by Emily DeWald of Bloomington, IL (1:23:14) and Anna Masinelli of Champaign in 1:23:49. Fields were deep in both races. In the 5K, Patrick Ford of St. Joseph, IL, won in 17:05. Anna Hall of Boulder, CO, was the women's champ in 19:37. The marathon had 1,606 finishers, the half 3,582 and the 5K 1,862. There also was a marathon relay. Can you spell success? I think they had a winner downstate today.