Last year it was Jerry Ross, this year Irene Taylor.
For the second straight year, an Alaskan won their age group at the granddaddy of distance running, the Boston Marathon.
Taylor, 75, or Anchorage claimed the women’s 75-79 age group on Monday, running 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston, Massachusetts, in 4 hours, 41 minutes and 27 seconds.
The effort earned her an invite to the awards ceremony at Fenway Park and was a big improvement from her last run at Boston in 2018, when she placed ninth in the 70-74 age group in 4:46:52.
At the previous Boston Marathon, held out of season in October 2021 due to the pandemic, Ross of Anchorage won the 45-49 age group. This time he was fourth in that age group, and 279th overall among men, in 2:36:07.
Corbyn Jahn
Corbyn Jahn, 31, of Anchorage, posted the top Alaskan result of 2:31:38. That earned him 159th place for men and was nearly a three-minute improvement from his personal best set at Boston in 2021.
Jahn ran the first half on Monday in 1:14:33 — most of it with Ross — and only slowed slightly in the second half, which includes the Newton Hills and famed Heartbreak Hill. His time equates to a pace of 5 minutes, 47 seconds per mile.
Kendra Paskvan, 27, of Anchorage, placed as the top Alaskan female in 3:03:25, good for 305th among women. She negative split the course, meaning she covered the second half quicker than the first. Paskvan knocked 15 minutes off her time from the 2021 Anchorage Mayor’s Marathon.
Former University of Alaska Anchorage standout Marko Cheseto Lemtukei won the para athletic competition in 2:37:01, an improvement of 16 minutes from Boston in 2021. Cheseto, now of Groveland, Fla., holds the world record for double amputees in a marathon at 2:35:55 from New York in 2021.
The 126th annual race featured more than 25,000 runners and hordes of spectators on Patriots’ Day, a legal holiday in Massachusetts and several other states.
Alaskan results:
Men — Corbyn Jahn, 31, Anchorage, 2:31:38; Jerome Ross, 46, Anchorage, 2:36:07; Derek Steele, 24, Anchorage, 2:48:35; James Miller, 41, Anchorage, 2:53:04; Rob Kinnear, 47, Anchorage, 3:07:49; Nicholas Janssen, 38, Fairbanks, 3:08:32; John Hellen, 55, Anchorage, 3:14:41; Charles O’Brien, 35, Petersburg, 3:16:22; Gregory Finstad, 67, Fairbanks, 3:44:25; Samuel Snyder, 44, Anchorage, 3:54:57; Andy Holland, 65, Fairbanks, 3:56:30; Edward Wickham, 65, Anchorage, 4:03:35; Jerry Jenkins, 70, Anchorage, 4:20:45; Greg Galanos, 56, Anchorage, 5:28:21.
Women — Kendra Paskvan, 27, Anchorage, 3:03:25; Emily Evans, 24, Anchorage, 3:18:59; Krista Casey, 34, North Pole, 3:19:10; Katherine Schwerman, 23, Anchorage, 3:21:27; Lindy Henrick, 35, Anchorage, 3:23:55; Samantha Simpson, 36, Anchorage, 3:27:43; Amanda Day, 43, Eagle River, 3:28:34; Viviana Mina, 37, Eagle River, 3:28:43; Colleen Richards, 48, Anchorage, 3:32:01; Aimee O’Neil, 41, Anchorage, 3:40:31; Robyn Mertz, 27, Anchorage, 3:43:01; Amie Wu, 42, Anchorage, 3:49:10; Kelsi Johnson, 34, Fairbanks, 3:51:38; Gabrielle Jordan, 28, Anchorage, 4:13:25; Susan Faulkner, 63, Fairbanks, 4:32:20; Irene Taylor, 75, Anchorage, 4:41:27; Helena Rueter, 56, Fairbanks, 5:32:05.