Jerry Ross earned a special medal for completing all six events in the World Marathon Majors series: London, Berlin, Toyko, Boston, Chicago and New York.
Even on a challenging day, Jeff Young is among the fastest marathoners in his age group, as he again proved at the London Marathon.
Even when faced with a heart issue, Jerry Ross showed he can excel and was rewarded Sunday with a special medal.
The Alaskan duo was among more than 53,000 runners — a record for London — to complete the iconic race in the United Kingdom.
“(There was) crazy crowd support and a brilliant course,” Ross said by text, adding that runners also contended with wind gusts of more than 20 miles per hour.
For Young, a 65-year-old construction worker from Anchorage, placing on the podium in his age group is nothing new: in 2015, he won the men’s 55-59 age group at the Boston Marathon and placed second at the New York City Marathon. He has also challenged the American marathon and half marathon records for his age.
On Sunday, Young led the 65-69 age group most of the way before his lead painfully evaporated and he placed third among 483 finishers in 2 hours, 59 minutes and 53 seconds. Young reached halfway in 1:23:37 with an age-group lead of more than four minutes.
“Jeff ran through back pain that wouldn’t go away and broke 3 hours in spite of multiple stops!” Ross said.
Ross, a teacher and running coach at South Anchorage High School, experienced tachycardia (an abnormally high heart rate) for the first 10-15 minutes of the race. In the third mile his heart rate averaged 181 beats per minute, about 25 beats higher than normal for him. He attributed the problem to running hard from the start without a proper warm-up, which wasn’t possible due to the horde of runners that must line up early and then wait for the start gun.
“(It was) enough to make me want to quit more than once,” Ross said of his racing heart.
Concerned that his heart was out of rhythm, Ross began cautiously before clicking into gear. He then felt great and “ran out of my mind for 14-plus miles.”
Ross reached halfway in 1:16:01 before the extreme effort caught up to him around Mile 19.
“I really had to put everything into the last seven miles,” he said. “(I’m) so proud of not quitting and getting it done.”
Ross finished in 2:35:38, good for 22nd in the 45-49 age group. In addition to his London Marathon finishers medal, Ross earned a special medal for completing all six events in the World Marathon Majors series: London, Berlin, Toyko, Boston, Chicago and New York.
He’s the second Alaskan to achieve this feat, joining Todd Parrish of Anchorage.
Ross’ average time for those six marathons: 2:33:12, an impressive pace of 5 minutes, 51 seconds per mile.
Six days before London, Christopher Brenk, 26, of Sitka ran even faster than Ross at the Boston Marathon, placing 83rd among men in 2:28:53. Chris Osiensky of Anchorage followed in 2:39:27 while Lilian Whittington-Evans of Palmer, age 19, was the fastest Alaskan woman in 3:08:49. Former UAA standout Marko Cheseto, now living in Florida, was the fastest double amputee runner in 2:46:45.
Brenk, an Illinois native who moved to Alaska in 2021, will attempt a dramatically different race for the first time on the Fourth of July: he’s entered in the 96th Mount Marathon Race in Seward.