32nd annual B&A Trail event draws nearly 800
The 32nd annual Annapolis Striders B&A Marathon and Half Marathon took place March 24 on the generally flat and fast Baltimore and Annapolis Trail.
After a Saturday deluge, the weather cooperated for the Sunday race with clear and crisp skies embracing the runners on their journey south from Severna Park High to Boulters Way, where they turned around and headed back north.
The half marathoners ran back to the high school, but the marathoners went all the way to the northern terminus of the B&A Trail in Glen Burnie and back to finish at the high school.
The course has few turns and encourages competitors to start too fast, so the wise runner knows to hold back and not begin the full push until after the Glen Burnie turnaround, when the course begins a slight downhill and the finish line looms ever closer with each step.
The marathon saw 286 finishers this year with Michael Wardian of Alexandria taking first overall with a time of 2 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds, an average of 6:01 per mile). Joy Lewis of Columbia was the top female finisher and placed 12th overall in 2:55:56.
Runners 40 years or older were well represented with the male master winner, Michael Mbagu of Baltimore, coming across in 2:41. Sadie Smith of Kirkwood was the female winner of the masters division in 2:56. Both Mbagu and Smith were within a few minutes of the overall winners, which was a most impressive showing.
In the male 20-29 category, Jackson Lewis from Baltimore finished first in 2:40, a minute ahead of Kyle Reed of Denver. In the male 30-39 category, Adam Lazrus of Baltimore finished in 2:46, two minutes and five seconds ahead of runner-up Takashi Akera of Rockville.
In the male 40-49 category, Patrick Blair of Catonsville finished first in 2:52:09 with Adam Lowe of Martinsburg, West Virginia one second behind. Of special note was the finish of 63-year-old Jeff Duyn on Garrett Park who ran a most impressive 3:02 to take first in the male age group 60-69.
The half marathon had 499 finishers with Daniel Rowe of Baltimore finishing first overall in 1:12:36 (5:33/mile) and Samantha Merkel of Laurel taking first female overall in 1:25:53.
A special congratulations to 14-year-old Arnold resident Olivia Gillian, who took third overall in the under 19 age group in 2:01. Also deserving a special shout out was 71-year-old Bob Burns of Columbia, who finished in 1:41 and bested the second runner in his age group by nearly thirty minutes.
Although the main purpose of such races is the running, there is another “event within an event” on display. The logistics of putting on such a race are daunting, as there are many neighborhood roads crossing the trail requiring course marshals, volunteers and police support, and multiple aid stations that must be staffed for many hours over the 26 miles.
Congratulations to race director Tom Lyden and all of the volunteers for pulling off another wonderful event.
Barkley Marathons
The Barkley Marathons is an invitational only extreme event held each year in Frozen Head State Park in rural Morgan County, Tennessee and is known in the running community as one of the toughest challenges for any ultra-competitor.
The course consists of five loops of the rugged mountains around Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. There are no finish awards or prize money and the race only costs $1.60 (along with a personal essay requirement) to enter.
The race has many challenges: the course is not marked or revealed to the runner until right before the race and competitors must collect pages from books throughout the course to show they ran the correct route. It is also much longer than the advertised 100 miles and has approximately 63,000 feet of elevation climb. Finally, there is no aid and runners are given 60 hours to complete the run.
Held since 1986, the Barkley Marathons for many years had no finishers. When there were finishers, they were always men. Completing even one lap of 20-plus miles is considered the achievement of a lifetime for many strong runners.
This year saw an amazing five finishers with Ukrainian Ihor Verys leading the way in 58:44:59. Americans John Kelly and Jared Campbell took second and third, while Greig Hamilton of New Zealand finished fourth.
However, the real story was the fifth overall finish of 40-year-old Jasmin Price of Scotland, who became the first female to finish the marathon in 36 years. Price came across the finish line in 59:58:21 with 99 seconds to spare before the deadline.
Price, who earned her doctorate degree from the University of Edinburgh, is no novice — having finished first overall in the 2019 Spine race, a grueling 268 mile run from England to Scotland. She did so while bettering the course record by 12 hours.
Congratulations to Price for breaking another barrier and providing inspiration for all runners to take on challenges that seem almost out of reach.