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Unlikely roads to victory

Ely Marathon champs have unique stories

Patrick Slack
Posted 10/1/15

ELY - A 48-year-old from Ireland, in the Twin Cities on business, who only started running seven years ago. 

A cello player in the Duluth Symphony Orchestra who signed up the night before the …

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Unlikely roads to victory

Ely Marathon champs have unique stories

Posted

ELY - A 48-year-old from Ireland, in the Twin Cities on business, who only started running seven years ago. 

A cello player in the Duluth Symphony Orchestra who signed up the night before the race.

Meet your inaugural Ely Marathon champions.

Declan Curley was the men’s and overall winner in two hours and 56:55 minutes, with Rebecca Peterson capturing the women’s title in 3:35:47.

Both took rather unlikely roads to the 26.2-mile road to history.

Curley came to the Twin Cities six weeks ago from Ireland on business with Boston Scientific. With an eye toward the Dublin Marathon at the end of October, he sought out a race he could compete in while in Minnesota.

“I’ve been scouring the websites to see where was the nearest marathon to the Twin Cities,” Curley said. “This one seemed to fit the bill.”

Curley had competed in a marathon in Elroy, Wis., just two weeks prior, and found the course to be quite flat and fast.

The Ely course, which started on the north arm of Burntside Lake and meandered down the Echo Trail, detouring into Winton before finishing in Whiteside Park? Not so much.

“The first seven miles were an absolute killer,” Curley said. “After that I got into the swing of things and really enjoyed it.”

Curley didn’t make his move to the front until late in the race. Coincidentally, he had trained with the runner-up, Wilder Welke of St. Paul, shortly after arriving in the Twin Cities.

“I saw from the start the guy who was second,” Curley said. “He just took off. When I first came to Minneapolis about six weeks ago, I actually ran with him, so I knew he was a strong runner. So I said, ‘You know what, you go off and win it.’ I just did my own thing and mile 20 I caught up to him.”

Curley kept putting distance between himself and the field from there on, cruising to a near-eight-minute victory as he basked in the energy of an exuberant crowd.

“Brilliant, brilliant,” he said of the finish. “The minute I hit the town it was just, you know, even though I was hurting, the crowds were brilliant. They just pushed me on. It was great.”

Curley only began running seven years ago, yet Ely marked his 22nd marathon. He’s hoping to keep improving, perhaps even break 2:50 his next time out. He is already signed up to return to Ely for next year’s race.

Peterson barely got herself registered for this year’s race, getting persuaded to compete the week of the event.

“A friend of mine is the friend of the race director and she talked me into it this week,” she said.

Suffice it to say, she wasn’t exactly expecting to be the first female across the line.

“No, not at all,” Peterson said. “I was just hoping to finish under four (hours).”

“It was only I think around maybe mile five that I caught up, or mile four that I could see the first female,” she continued. “It was amazing.”

This was Peterson’s 31st marathon, yet none could top this one’s difficulty.

“It’s the whole thing, because you go up one hill and then you go down only to climb up one more. And then it just keeps happening,” she said. “I was working hard the whole time. It wasn’t an easy running day, but you know, I felt good. But it was hard. Those hills, you feel it.”

Marathon results

The top five men were Curley (2:56:55), Welke (3:04:43), Tyler Fish of Ely (3:33:51), Jeffrey Bruzek of Minneapolis (3:34:47) and Alexander Falconer of Eden Prairie (3:36:38).

The top five women were Peterson (3:35:47), Jacquelyn Price of Thunder Bay (3:37:42), Linda Wilson of Kenora (3:45:48), Jangle Gomez of Proctor (3:50:36) and Tracy Wallace of Minneapolis (3:53:06).

Half marathon results

The first person to cross the finish line on the day was Mark Johnson of Grand Rapids, who won the half marathon in 1:21:47. He was followed in the top five by Christopher Wilson of Plymouth (1:22:41), Andrew Jones of Cook (1:28:05), Robert Smith of Cloquet (1:28:57) and William Sackett of Grand Rapids (1:29:20). 

Lisa Smith of Mountain Iron was the female champion, finishing in 1:30:57. She was followed in the top five by Caroline Cox of Thunder Bay (1:34:31), Jenny Wilcox of Afton (1:34:42), Martha Klopp of Oakdale (1:35:00) and Jayne Dusich of Ely (1:43:37).

5K results

A sunset 5K race was held Friday night to open the weekend’s slate of races. Pat Slack of Ely was the winner in 21:31, followed by John Tieben of Jordan (22:12) and Timothy Koivunen of Eveleth (22:28). 

Alexandra Burritt of Minneapolis was the female winner in 24:36, followed by Danielle Olin of Mora (26:18) and Erin Lowe of Ely (26:29).