Left: Early in the race Victor Bohnen (wearing bib No. 60) breaks the wind for Ailee Larson. Larson, a talented collegiate distance runner, moved up in the field and won the women’s race Above: Past Ham Run Half Marathon winner Jay Arrowsmith-DeCoux (691) ran a strong race, finishing third overall.
Runners fought a cold headwind most of the way on the 7th running of the Ham Lake Half Marathon, held on Saturday, May 3, 2014, but for a couple of runners, Mark Maronese of Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Ailee Larson of Lutsen, it looked like the weather affected them very little as they ran away from their competitors.
Maronese, 34, separated himself from the pack early and ran the Ham Lake Half Marathon alone in 1:15:49.8, just off his last year’s time (and course record) of 1:14:51.
Larson, 21, looked like she was on a training run as she easily glided away from the women’s field in 1:35:35.
Past Ham Lake winner Jay Arrowsmith-Decoux, Grand Marais, was the top local male finisher, placing third in 1:28:32, less than a minute behind second place finisher John Storkamp of Hastings, Minnesota, who ran the distance in 1:27:12.
Jonathan Rova and Baiers Heeren of Grand Marais ran together through 10 miles before Rova pulled ahead to place 6th in a time of 1:31:03.
Heeren finished 7th in 1:39:16 while Chad Goodale of Grand Marais placed 8th in 1:39:34. Victor Bohnen, 27, finished in 1:43:43 to place 11th while Adam Nelson, 32, of Grand Marais finished in 17th place in 1:53:10 to end the local participation by Cook County men in the race.
While Larson, a talented collegiate runner, was far out in front of the women, second place went to Debra Hultman, 52, of Ely who crossed the line in 1:47:31, a great time for her age group on this day. New mom Kerrie Berg, 45, of Grand Marais finished third in 1:50:17.
Only two other local women, Ada Igoe, 29, (2:44:11) and Lori Rothstein, 36, (3:09:55) were among the women finishers in the race. All told 64 runners, 31 men and 33 women, completed the course while seven dropped out.
This year the Cook County Community YMCA sponsored the run.
The field of men and women runners for the half was down over past years, possibly a result of the long, cold winter runners tried to train through to maintain their fitness.
Above left: Mark Maronese of Thunder Bay (554) bested the men’s field by more than 10 minutes. Above right: A smiling Kerrie Berg (664) seems unaffected by the cold weather. Berg finished 3rd in the women’s race.
5 K Results
Cook County High School track coaches use the Ham Lake 5-K race as a training run for the team, and this year’s race saw excellent results.
The top five women finishers in the Ham Lake 5-K were all from Grand Marais. Jackie Nelson, 29, finished 1st in 22:53 while Maya McHugh, 13, was 2nd in 24:25. Alyssa Martinson, 15, was 3rd in 24:39; Andrea Hofeldt, 30, was 4th in 26:38 and Marin Hay, 15, was 5th in 27:38.
Other local women finishers, times and places were Mel Stoddard, 16, 8th place, 28:11; Sophia Eliasen, 12, Grand Marais, 9th place, 28:41; Kelly Twiest, 43, Grand Marais, 11th place, 30:52; Ciera Garcia, Grand Marais placed 14th, 32:19; Amelia Roth, 12, Grand Marais, placed 16th in 33:29; Susan Fabius, 64, Grand Marais, placed 17th in 33:49; Lucy Calender 14, of Grand Marais, placed 20th in 36:01; Elsa Garry, 10, Grand Marais, placed 21, 36:05; Kasia Schmidt, 30, Lutsen, placed 22 in 36:52; Michaela Buchheit, Grand Marais, placed 23 in 36:53 and Amanda Hand, 40, Grand Marais, placed 24th in 37 minutes.
Daniel Howells of Thunder Bay won the men’s 5-K race in19:13. Joey Chmelik, 18, Grand Marais, beat his track coach, Chris Hegg, 61, who was 3rd in an excellent time of 21:46.
Finn Garry, 13, placed 5th in 22:23, out legging John Twiest, 47, who was 10 seconds back in 6th place. Rusty Day, 17, Grand Marais, placed 7th in 23:09; Karl Olson, 41, finished 8th in 23:24; Derek Hofeldt, 28, Grand Marais, placed 10th in 26:38; Michael Garry, 44, Grand Marais, placed 11th in 27:04; Noah Warren, 17, Grand Marais, placed 14th in 29:12; Denny FitzPatrick, 68, placed 16th in 29:39; and Jack Haussner, 12, of Grand Marais, placed 18th in 31:12.
Leave a Reply