35th Annual GMAA Green Mountain Marathon

Weather: rain with calm winds, temperatures in the upper 50s
Race Director: Jim Miller
Summary: Congratulations to all finishers in our 35th anniversary! Saturday was no different than any other day this week - a drizzly rain, but without wind. Runners hailed from 27 states and 2 Canada provinces and tallied the highest number of finishers since 1982! The men's race involved the same four runners for most of the distance. Per Ekegerd of Sweden was first to the 3 mile mark and had almost a two minute lead at the half (1:19:50), and while his lead was whittled to 42 seconds, he won in 2:43:22. Second place finisher Tom Lipsie of Indiana, PA was in third place at miles 3, 6, 9, and 14, but moved to the number two spot by 20 miles. He had the fastest 2nd half time and ran a negative split (1:22:16, 1:21:48), finishing with a final time of 2:44:04. Third place went to Al Casagradra of Akron, OH. He was in fourth place at mile 9, moved up to second by the halfway and mile 14, and settled into third for the rest of the race before 20 miles. His split and final times were 1:21:41 and 2:46:44 respectively. Ken Gartner of Falmouth, MA was the first New Englander to finish. He was in second place at miles 3, 6, and 9, but fell back to fourth by the halfway point and held position from there on out. He made it to the half in 1:22:38 and finished in 2:47:27. Robert Demers of Dorval, QC rounded out the top five. He was the fourth to mile 3, but the settled into the five spot for the remainder with times of 1:25:11 and 2:56:39. The women's race was quite dynamic. Caroline Zeilenga of Calais, VT won in her marathon debut. Running conservatively for the first ten miles, in mile 11 she dropped the pace by about 45 seconds per mile and started to reel people in. She hit the half in fifth place at 1:44:50, more than five minutes behind the leader. Good thing the race was as long as it was as she didn't take the lead until the final half mile when she commandingly took over and then went on to put another 56 seconds between her and second place. Cheryl Aley ran the first half of the race in second place, often just a few strides behind first. She hit the half at 1:39:30 and then took the lead for the rest of the way until Caroline barrelled by. Her 3:24:49 was six minutes better than her fifth place finish in her 2004 GMM debut. Rebecca Wright of Manchester, CT finished third, slowly working her way up. By 9 miles she was only strides behind fourth place, and by 12 miles was only strides behind third place. Her half time was 1:43:26 and she finished in 3:28:24. Fourth place went to Susan Landry of Collegeville, PA. She led for the entire first half, logging a 1:39:25. She slowly fell back after that, finishing in 3:31:52. Denise Landes of Lutz, FL rounded out the top five. She moved up as high as third at both the 9, 12, and halfway points (1:43:20), but fell back to finish in 3:32:09. This year 18 of the 180 finishers ran a negative split, with Nathalie Laurin having the most negative split (over 23 minutes!). Jeffrey Bialos ran the second most negative split (just under 10 minutes). If you want an even pace, Armin Schuhmann is the person you want to run with - he ran the most even race with only 5 seconds separating his first and second half splits. Randy Cairns moved up the most places going from 127th at the half to finish in 90th. Two other performances are of note: Tom Fetterman of Penn Run, PA completed his 50th state today (3:23:33) and capped it off by winning the 60s division and set the age group record in the process! David Kenney of East Moriches, NY set the other age group record of the day with a 4:48:06 to win the 70s.