LIFE ON THE RUN
Kandie wins his fifth Duke City Marathon, Wegman her first
Roxanne Wegman’s approach before the 34th Annual Duke City Marathon was to underpromise on expectations. What she did was overdeliver. In her first traditional marathon, Wegman, 30, of El Paso captured the women’s title in 3 hours, 13 minutes, and 27 seconds on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Solomon Kandie made it four straight men’s titles and five in six years, timing 2 hours, 37 minutes, and 34 seconds.
Originally from upstate New York, Wegman is a chemical officer in the 22nd chemical division at Fort Bliss in El Paso. She was training for the Army 10-miler before deciding to run in Albuquerque’s marquee road race.
“I’ve done ultras (marathons), six-hour and 12-hour (races), but never a nose-to-the-grindstone marathon,” Wegman said. “My job is starting to heat up and it’s tough to train and do all of this marathon stuff…I was just hoping to finish today, and not walk. I loved looking at all of the balloons, and it was a welcomed distraction.”
Wegman was one of more than 5,000 entries in one of seven race categories. Registration closed on Saturday, said Duke City Marathon board member Burt Trembly, and he was excited when the numbers were finalized.
“Not only were we up from last year, in fact, we were up in registrations in every category,” Trembly. “That was incredible, and it’s never been done before.”
Kandie, 39, who has called Albuquerque home the past decade, finished about five minutes off of his winning time from last year, but was not challenged.
As he has the previous four years, Kandie carried a number one salute with his index finger and a big smile across the finish line. He spent several minutes posing for photos with well-wishers and race fans before sum-
ming up his performance.
“I did a time trial about a month ago that went well,” Kandie said. “I’m very excited. To win number five, I’m very grateful.”
Two years ago, activetimes.com rated the Duke City Marathon among the top-25 marathons in the world. If anyone can attest to that stature, it’s Kandie.
Kandie, who grew up running distance in his native Kenya, has run marathons across the United States, and hopes to compete at Boston next year.
“I think it’s probably some of the best weather (to train) in the world,” Kandie said of Albuquerque. “You can train at any elevation, and it’s a growing race.”
Among the first people to greet Kandie at the finish line was Rick Gridley. Gridley is the director of public affairs for Big 5 Sporting Goods, title sponsor for the race the past six years, and a presenting sponsor for the past 21 races.
Gridley, who made the trip east from El Segunda, Calif., was quick to point out the connection between his company’s name, and win number five for Kandie.
“He’s an amazing young man with a beautiful family,” Gridley said of Kandie. “And just an inspiration to all.”
About every two or three years, Trembly said the field will include a competitive wheelchair racer. This year, Duke City Marathon alumnus, Matthew Walworth of Centennial, Co. made the trip south for his third wheelchair marathon.
It was a return to Albuquerque for Walworth, who said he previously ran in the Duke City Marathon before a degenerative neurological disorder stripped him of his ability to run long distance.
“The reason I did this today is that I ran the Duke City Marathon in 2004, and it was the last marathon I was ever able to run,” Walworth said, who finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 51 seconds. “So I thought, I’m back riding, and now I have some way to finish a marathon.”