High Desert Dirt: Norteños at the New York City Marathon

Friday, November 18, 2016

Norteños at the New York City Marathon

Smyth - US Mountain Running Champ

The New York Marathon kinda got lost in the madness that was the World Series and election combo last week.

It was a fine race up front and a fantastic race for American athletes. US finishers took six of the first eleven places on the men's side, including former La Cueva High standout and UNM alum Shadrack Biwott in 5th (2:12:01), and Santa Fe based pro Patrick Smyth in 10th (2:16:34).

Biwott at NYC

Pat ran a minute faster at February's Olympic Marathon Trials, finishing 8th - 3 secs back of 7th place Shadrack Biwott. Seems to be a thing with these two. I'd think Shadrack ought to probably spring for the tab if they ever hang out. For what's its worth I raced Pat back in May and he got the best of me. We squared-up with a few hundred other runners at the Jemez Mountain Trail Run and the dude put me in his wake by an hour+ over a 13mi course. I'm going with a strategy of patience and I think I'll close the gap over another 15yrs when he doesn't see me coming.

On the women's side the Americans fared quite well again with three in the top ten, but I was mostly focused on gold medal triathlete and CPA Gwen Jorgensen in her first attempt at the distance. She faded to 14th overall, 6th American (2:41:01), however I'm going to imagine she had the tax liability on her winnings calc'ed out before crossing the line and that counts for something in my book.

Additional notes and connections: Molly Huddle finished 3rd overall (2:28:13), notable here because she was a college teammate of Smyth's at Notre Dame. Prior to Biwott's 5th place finish, fellow Oregon alum Ken Martin ran to a 2nd place finish in 1989 (2:09:38). Ken lived and trained in Santa Fe in the year(s) leading up to that performance. The best finish at NYC by a New Mexican local was of course Tony Sandoval, (2:12:12) for 6th overall in 1981. Tony passed over both Oregon and Notre Dame to run for Stanford.