Dumm, Fenster Win 33rd Marine Corps Marathon
By Steve Nearman, Running USA wire
Posted Monday, 27 October, 2008
ARLINGTON, Va. - (October 26, 2008) - It appeared for a while that Andrew Dumm had committed the fatal rookie error at Sunday's 33rd Marine Corps Marathon.
The 23-year-old former academic All-American at the University of Virginia was trying his hand at the 26.2-mile distance, and midway through the race, he felt compelled to drop his three nearest competitors with a surge.
"That's a pretty early spot to make a move," said Dumm, a new resident of the Glover Park section of Washington. "But I just wanted to use Hains Point because that's a little bit of a lonely stretch of the race to make a move. It's a pretty good psychological area to do so."
Nobody challenged, and Dumm labored through the second half of his first marathon to win in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 44 seconds - ahead of 18,261 finishers with spectacular weather conditions.
Cate Fenster also was a surprise winner, in her first marathon.
The 37-year-old long-time road racer from Wooster, OH, had joked with her husband Steven prior to the race that if she broke 2:52 on her first try, she would not have to ever run the marathon again.
Fenster, an assistant professor in biology at The College of Wooster but working a temporary project at nearby National Institutes of Health for the past year, could easily retire from marathoning after posting a superb 2:48:55.
Now, she said, she may be setting her goals on making the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2012.
"The marathon was exactly what I thought it would be," she said. "I felt good for most of the way but at mile 20, I could feel the bricks coming. I was kind of shocked to win."
For Dumm, the victory was not as shocking as it was humbling, he said. He definitely had some competition in 2005-06 champion Ruben Garcia from the Mexican Navy, who had shown he could run 2:21-2:22 in his two triumphs, and up-and-coming Fred Joslyn from the Hansons-Brooks racing team, who predicted a 2:19 finishing time. Plus multi-talented Michael Wardian can always pop a fast marathon.
After some opening hills in Arlington and a trip across the fogged-in Potomac River via the Key Bridge, the lead pack whittled to just four - Dumm, Mexican Navy's Jose Miranda, Joslyn and Jaron Hawkins - as the group entered East Potomac Park at 11 miles. A mile later, Dumm started to pull away and by the half-marathon mats (1:10:48), he was 11 seconds ahead and picking up steam.
"I thought the Mexican guy (Jose Miranda) and the Hansons guy (Fred Joslyn) would go with me and I was surprised they didn't," he said.
Dumm would increase his margin to at least 76 seconds over Joslyn before hitting the finish tape 70 seconds ahead of Joslyn.
The 24-year-old Joslyn said he was "disappointed in a way, I really wanted to win. I knew early in the race, I knew it wasn't going to be my day. My legs were hurting way too much for 10 miles into the race. Then he hammered us between 11 and 13."
Corey Duquette, 26, of Pensacola, Fla., moved into third for good by 35 kilometers and ended in 2:24:40.
Dumm's brother Brian, 25, scored fifth place for the U.S. Air Force in 2:26:00 and father Kenneth brought in the rest of the family with his 3:19:19.
While it was an exhilarating triumph for Fenster, it was a tough defeat for runner-up Lindsay (Goulet) Wilkins, who ran a personal best 2:49:06. "I was about a minute behind, then it was 50, 40, 30, I was chasing her," the 30-year-old Wilkins said of Fenster.
Fenster had taken the lead after 16 miles and Wilkins, an Arlington resident, finally moved into second at 21 miles, on the 14th Street Bridge. The chase continued through Crystal City and up the final stretch of Route 110 in Arlington, with Fenster edging Wilkins by 11 seconds.
While Wilkins said she was cramping in the final hill to the Iwo Jima finish, Fenster admitted: "I was crying in pain coming up that last hill, the last 200 yards."
33rd Marine Corps Marathon
Washington, DC, Sunday, October 26, 2008
MEN
1) Andrew Dumm (VA), 2:22:44
2) C. Fred Joslyn (MI), 2:23:54
3) Corey Duquette (FL), 2:24:40
4) Jaron Hawkins (MD), 2:25:19
5) Brian Dumm (VA), 2:26:00
WOMEN
1) Cate Fenster (MD), 2:48:55
2) Lindsay Wilkins (VA), 2:49:06
3) Melissa Tanner (MD), 2:51:45
4) Abigail Stiles (RI), 2:54:47
5) Rebekah Potts (NC), 2:55:42
Complete results at: www.MarineMarathon.com
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