Marathon win caps crazy week for couple
More than 3,800 runners and 700 volunteers take part
It’s been a whirlwind week for Kyle Greig.
He and his wife, Debbie — both marathon runners — came to Niagara Falls from Scotland two weeks ago to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
They skipped out of town last weekend long enough to run in the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 7. And while they were in the Falls, they thought they’d try out the Niagara Falls Marathon on Sunday.
Kyle won the men’s division in the full marathon; Debbie finished second in the women’s.
“What better way to celebrate than to do two marathons,” quipped Kyle, outfitted in tartan running shorts and smiling broadly.
He won in a time of about two hours, 28 minutes — one minute slower than he posted in Chicago.
“My legs felt a lot harder and sorer today than they did last week. You should only do a marathon every three or four months, but I thought, ‘I’m on holidays,
why not?’ You get to go along the Niagara River and run in Niagara Falls.”
More than 3,800 runners took part in four categories — 5K, 10K, half-marathon and the full 42kilometre marathon, which started in Buffalo, crossed the Peace Bridge, wound through a bit of Fort Erie and continued on Niagara Parkway toward the finish line outside Table Rock at the falls.
Computer issues delayed the posting of complete race results Sunday night, and they were not available at press time. They will be online at NiagaraFallsMarathon.com.
Courtney Laderer, 24, from North Tonawanda, won the women’s full marathon in a time of about two hours, 59 minutes and headed straight from the finish line to the first aid tent.
She emerged with a bandage wrapped around one upper thigh and limped to the medal podium.
“There was some chafing, it happens occasionally,” she said. “Probably around mile 20 I looked down and noticed my leg was bleeding. It’s happened before.
“What slowed me down more was my hip felt out of place … I thought my leg was really going to start hurting.”
Unlike last year’s soggy, rainy weather, this year runners caught a break with a cool breeze and light rain part of the way. That led to quicker finishes in most categories.
The marathon — it was first held in 1974, died out for a time and was revived in 1998 — drew runners from as far off as Norway and the European Union.
There were a lot of locals taking part, too.
Scott Molloy of Niagara Falls, a casino worker, has run in the past three marathons. He did the halfmarathon Sunday.
“I used to smoke cigarettes until about five years ago,” said Molloy, 46. “I quit and took up running. It was a great turnaround for me, best thing I ever did.”
Jamie Coull, also of Niagara Falls, was part of a foursome of teachers from Westlane Secondary School who ran Sunday. He and two others did the half-marathon, while one teacher did the full one.
He only took up running again earlier this year.
“Usually the Grade 9 class has their cholesterol checked, and so the phys ed teachers get theirs done, too,” he said. “Mine was creeping up again, so I said you know what? I have to do something different for my health.
“So I talked to a few of the teachers around Westlane and said let’s do it together.”
He said he was a little tired, but pleased with his finish — “I ran about 10 years ago and I was one hour, 54 minutes. And I was 1:48 today. Ten years older and I’m even faster, is that the way it works?”