Nick Schollmeier
From tiny Dillingham to the Big Apple.
Nick Schollmeier of Dillingham, a community of 2,200 in Bristol Bay, finished as Alaska’s top performer Sunday at the New York City Marathon among more than 51,000 finishers.
Dillingham, 40, completed the 26.2-mile tour of New York’s five boroughs in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 2 seconds. That placed him 68th of 4,257 in the 40-44 age group and 402nd among more than 28,000 men.
Schollmeier, a cross country coach, educator and school board member in Dillingham, completed the first half in 1:20:25 before slowing a bit towards the end.
Fifty-year-old Pete Pounds of Anchorage nearly caught Schollmeier, finishing in 2:49:02. Pounds placed sixth in the 50-54 age group and 449th among men.
Former UAA star Marko Cheseto, now of Groveland, Fla., posted another remarkable performance.
Cheseto, a former All-American runner at UAA from Kenya, finished in 2:44:25, good for 37th in the 40-44 age group and 248th male.
Cheseto lost both lower legs due to frostbite in 2011 and runs with carbon-fiber blades as prosthetics. He set the world marathon record for double amputees by running 2:35:55 at New York City in 2021 and was on pace to challenge that mark on Sunday after reaching halfway in 1:17:49.
Tony Tomsich
Fifteen Alaskans participated in NYC this year, including Lisa Anglen of Anchorage, 3:19:10; Kamie Miller of Eagle River, 3:32:18; Lindy Henrick of Anchorage, 3:34:35; Andrew Shidner of Glennallen, 4:03:53; Samantha Simpson of Anchorage, 4:15:23; Susan Craig of Soldotna, 4:20:48; Caroline Banwell of Anchorage, 4:33:11; Cynthia Shidner of Glennallen, 4:53:19; Daniel Vazquez of Fairbanks, 5:23:46; Maximillion Jensen of Anchorage, 5:49:32; Katie Calderone of Anchorage, 5:50:45; Jonathan Hughes of Anchorage, 5:52:16; and Tiffany Park of Port Graham, 6:59:07.
In other marathon news, Tony Tomsich of Fairbanks ran 2:19:36 at the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 23, a pace of 5 minutes, 19 seconds per mile.
Tomsich, who now lives in Tubingen, Germany, is seeking to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, which requires a time of 2:18:00 or faster. He raced the 2020 Olympic Trials in Atlanta, placing 102nd of 175 men.
Tomsich, 35, plans to make another qualifying attempt at the Valencia Marathon in Spain on December 3. That same day, Taylor (Ostrander) Deal of Anchorage will race the California International Marathon in Sacramento, which is billed as the “fastest course in the West.”
Trail Race Update
Meg Inokuma of Palmer added to her legend Oct. 12 at the Indian Creek 50-miler in Sedalia, Colo.
Meg Inokuma
Inokuma, 43, not only dominated the women’s race in winning by nearly two hours but also topped the fastest male to win the race outright. Inokuma finished in 9 hours, 41 minutes, which was 39 minutes faster than Isaac Sinclair.
The race actually measured 51.9 miles and included 10,585 feet of vertical climbing and an average elevation of about 7,000 feet.
Meanwhile, David Norris, a Fairbanks native who spent a long stint in Anchorage with the APU Nordic Ski Club, is best known for his Nordic ski prowess and for being the Mount Marathon Race record-holder.
On Saturday, Norris, now living in Steamboat Springs, Colo., bolstered his running resume by placing second in the 50-kilometer Puerto Vallerta by UTMB race in Mexico. Norris finished in 5:06:41, just three seconds behind winner Juan Belman Ortiz of Mexico. Norris led by 15 minutes with just 4.3 miles remaining but ran out of gas.
At the same race, Anchorage’s Klaire Rhodes placed second among women (and 17th overall) in 6:13:39. Caitlin Schindel of Canada won in 5:40:11. In the men’s 100k, Tracen Knopp, a Wasilla native now living in Nevada, placed second in 10:33:02.