Missouri man, woman take first places in marathon

Apr. 29—The weather cooperated with runners the morning of April 27 for this year's Eisenhower Marathon. Taking first place for the men's full marathon was Marcus Williams of Parkville, Missouri. Adrienne Morgart of Platte City, Missouri, took first in the women's full marathon.

The route was the same as last year's marathon. They started next to Old Abilene Town, ran south on Kansas Highway 15, made a left onto 2000 Avenue, ran around Brown Memorial Park, and ran back onto Hawk Road to then turn around and repeat the route back to the start. Full marathon runners did this route twice.

Marcus Williams went into the race wanting to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He went in hoping to finish around 2 hours and 50 minutes, but the wind and warmer weather and how he was feeling that morning forced his finish time a little higher at 2:54:10.

"A little windy out there, but overall for how the weather was projected to be, it was very good. The course was good, and the marshalls did a really good job of marking and making sure we knew which way to go."

"There was a hiccup from the six to nine mile point, but Aaron (England) the guy who's mostly likely going to come in second, kind of carried me through that patch," Williams said.

England ended up coming in 16th place overall.

Williams is a consistent competitor, having run in races as long as ultra marathons down to 5ks.

He previously competed in the half marathon for Rock the Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri.

He currently works for the U.S. Air Force at Ft. Leavenworth.

Adrienne Morgart said she was using the Eisenhower Marathon to train for the Fargo Marathon in North Dakota. She was happy with her time of 3:29:18. This was her first time running this marathon.

" I wasn't sure what to expect with the course, especially with the out and back, but it was great," Morgart said. "I really enjoyed it. Good scenery."

She said she would like to run in the marathon again in the future.

For the men, second place was Sean Ryan of Salina, Kansas, with a time of 3:13:55. Kyle Exline of Clive, Iowa, earned third place with his time of 3:16:52.

For the women, Ericka Kramer of McPherson, Kansas, with her time of 3:42:55 won second place, and Rebecca Romary of Lawrence, Kansas, won third place with her time of 4:09:39.

For all the results, go to www.athlinks.com/event/138255/results/Event/1064709/Results.

For more about the Eisenhower Marathon, go to eisenhowermarathon.wordpress.com.