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ScribeBy: David Quick of The Post and
Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 12/15/02
KIAWAH ISLAND-
Jack Frost did more than just nip at the noses of more than 3,000 runners at the 25th annual Kiawah Island Marathon Saturday. His bitter winds gusted to 20 miles per hour and brutalized many, leaving some with cramped muscles and wind-burned faces, and kept race times a bit slower than usual.
Yet the overall male winner for the marathon bucked that trend.
Winston-Salem, N.C., resident Patrick Phillips, 30, set a Kiawah record since the 26.2-mile race was moved from Isle of Palms to Kiawah Island in 1987. Phillips finished the marathon in 2 hours, 27 minutes, 19 seconds.
Kiawah was his first marathon since the 1998 Chicago Marathon when he missed qualifying for the Olympic Marathon Trials by 10 seconds after running a 2:22:10. He was so disappointed that he decided to hang up marathon running for a while. Now, however, he said he has some short-term motivation to run a few more fast marathons, including the Boston Marathon in April.
"My wife is three months pregnant. Come June, there will be little time for training ... Boston will be my last hoorah for awhile," said Phillips.
In contrast to the men's mara-thon, the women's top finishing time was the fifth slowest in the marathon's history and the slowest at Kiawah since 1994.
Sheila Wakeman, 38, of Cornelius, N.C., had only run three previous marathons before landing her first place overall finish with a 3:09:02, 46 seconds shy of her fastest time set in October in Chicago.
"I was shooting for three hours, but the wind was tough," said Wakeman.
Marathoners were tortured twice on Saturday, running into a headwind on the double loop course from miles six to 13 and from miles 19 to 26. To make matters worse, the wind and the chill picked up later in the morning.
The marathoners weren't the only ones beaten up by a headwind on the back half of their races.
Irv Batten, 39, of Summerville, took an early lead in the half marathon and therefore had no other bodies to draft off on his way to winning the 13.1-mile race in 1:11:27.
"I tried to draft off the (guide) bicyclist, but I just couldn't get close enough," joked Batten, who won the 1997 Kiawah Half Marathon in 1:09:58.
Like Batten, the women's top finisher in the half marathon, 26-year-old Farrell Burns of Charlotte, also had a previous Kiawah victory. Burns won the women's marathon last year in a race that contrasted this year's race with warm, humid conditions.
"I'll take the wind over last year's race anytime," said Burns, who won the half marathon in 1:20:48.
Unlike Batten, Burns drafted behind four younger male runners in marathon, describing them as "my saviors today."
Burns said she opted out of defending her Kiawah Marathon title this year because she was coming off a 2:47:07 Chicago Marathon in October. The time has qualified her for the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in April 2004.
Many of the 5K runners were not happy about a course change at Kiawah this year that took them out to the beach, where an even stiffer wind coming off the ocean seemed to make them stand still for three-quarters of a mile.
Palmer Thomas, 25, of Charles-ton was the only runner out of 293 5K finishers to come in under 18 minutes. His 16 minute, 51 second time was 76 seconds faster than the second place finisher.
Carrboro's Mimi O'Grady, 37, put the windy conditions into perspective shortly after winning the women's 5K with an 18:47.
"This year, this is my slowest (5K) time and my proudest run. I fought the whole way," she said.
The weather also wreaked havoc on disabled participants who pushed or cranked specialized wheelchairs.
Dick Pace, who has a chair propelled by a hand crank, liked Kiawah because, unlike the four other marathons he's competed in this year, it was flat. He finished in 2:04.
Local wheelchair athlete Genie Wellons, 53, of Ravenel, said his 2:29:10 marathon time was one of his slowest times and that, at times, he felt like someone was holding his chair still.
Half marathon wheelchair winners came in almost together. West Columbia resident Leonard Johnson and 16-year-old Kirsten Taylor, of Gilbert, were trying to shake off the chill after their finishes of 1:35:17 and 1:35:20, respectively. Johnson has been coaching Taylor and is starting to find her youth trumping his experience.
"She pushed me too hard this time," said Johnson of Taylor.
In all, about 2,700 runners finished one of three races this year, including a record number of half marathoners at 1,611. It was the second straight year Kiawah set a record for the number of half marathon finishers. Though the marathon is the headline event, only 773 runners finished by the 7-hour mark at 3 p.m. (between 30-50 were still on the course). Last year, 928 finished the marathon.
w Charleston's Bob Schlau, 55, ran his slowest marathon in more than 70 attempts with a 2:56:17. However, Schlau, who has won much larger marathons and competed in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Marathon Trials, shattered the existing state age group record for males age 55-59. It is his third state age record since October.
"I thought I had a shot at 2:50 without the wind, but some of those gusts just stood me up," said Schlau.
w Bobby Aswell Jr., 39, of Cornelius, N.C., completed a quest that started 11 years ago to finish 100 marathons before he turned 40. Aswell - who already has run marathons in all 50 states and the District of Columbia - said he started to worry the night before the race how he would do. He caught a minor stomach bug that kept him from getting any sleep.
But with his birthday coming on Christmas Day and having run 14 marathons this year to meet that lofty 100 goal, Aswell said he was determined to finish.
His next goal?
"I've run marathons in Antarctica, Australia and North America. My next goal is, before I die, to run marathons on the other four continents."
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Scribe