Wenatchee Washington Marathon, April 23^rd, 8:00 AM

By Eddie Hahn

On a cool, clear, bright, and sunny day we formed up near down town Wenatchee’s Centennial Park for the second running of the Wenatchee Marathon. Maniacs were well represented and could be observed in their many yellow and black singlet(s). (With the exception of the beloved Prez, Steven Yee, in white…)

The Marathon course did an out and back 10 Kilometer on the through Wenatchee and near the West side of the Columbia River before performing two 10 mile counter clockwise loops on bicycle footpaths on the West and East Sides of the Columbia.

Speaking of bike paths, bikes seemed to be the theme of the event. Packet pick up was at a bicycle shop (I could buy a nice dependable used car for the price of some of the bikes I saw in there...), Marathon runners occasionally jostled with bikers for space on the marathon route, which took place primarily on bike paths.

Along the hybrid-desert, croppings and pockets of trees provided shade along with a stiff headwind that cooled one off to the point of regretting shedding earlier long sleeves (not to be overlooked was a token stretch bypassing the endemic sage brush.)on the East side, while a tail wind and open areas on the West side quickly warmed us back up, even to baking excess.  

The views of the surrounding mountain ranges provided a quaint distraction, and the mighty wide Columbia River was quite a piece of scenery to behold. The amazing thing about the course from a marathoning point of view was the fact that one could cross such a broad river, and have such a moderate payback in bridge inclines.

   To say they were palatable would be accurate, though they were probably a little tougher than the two or three rolling hills elsewhere on the course. Anyone who has run the Saint John’s Bridge in the Portland (Oregon) marathon can appreciate what I am saying.

Aid stations were generally two miles apart, and the latter carbo stations had gu, and banana slices, but the oatmeal raisin cookies were an especially nice touch.

The community seemed to really get behind the event in general where support was concerned, and there was larger participation in the accompanying (kids 2 KM, 5KM, 10KM and ½ Marathon as one would expect for a smaller event such as this.

Refreshments provided at the end were consistent with what one would expect based on the entry fee, medals was awarded to finishers, and gift certificates to overall and age group winners. (To this end I would recommend a change, since apparently all race distances received the same finisher’s award.) As the medals are covered with a paper sticker it wouldn’t be much additional work to adorn them separately for each distance.

The following are maniacs known to have completed the Wenatchee Marathon:

Eric Jensen: 3:09:16 (2^nd M 40-44)

Jen Yogi 3:14:39 (1^st F 30-34)

“Prez” Steven Yee 3:26:07

Jim Morton 3:28:59

“CJ Hollywood” Warren 3:36:28

Eddie Hahn 3:45:49

Mary Cheng 3:50:00

Gary Otheim 4:01:00

Amanda Cohn 4:42:33

Janet Burgess 4:54:14