Big Skies At Boston

Some pretty solid performances by Montanan's at today's Boston Marathon.

Overall, the races were won by Selina Kosgei of Kenya (2:32:16) and Deriba Merga of Ethiopia (2:08:42). Americans were 3rd in both races with Kara Goucher (2:32:25) and Ryan Hall (2:09:40) both running competitively (more on the American performances in a future post).

The top Montana male was once again Mel Hoffman of Sidney. The 45-year old ran 2:52:17 to place 592nd overall and 30th in the 45-49 age group.

Top female (and second overall Montanan) was Sara Graves. Now living in Ballantine, Sara is a Sidney native - giving rise to all kinds of eastern Montana athletic conspiracies. Running as part of the women's elite race, Sara ran a 2:52:42 to place 34th overall among the women. With the women heading off at a relatively slow start, you were able to see Sara in the back of the overall pack for the first couple of miles.

The rest of the top 10 Motanans's was:

Steve Bruner, 39, Bozeman, 2:54:11
Daryl Nourse, 26, Bozeman, 2:57:21
Stephen Rudmann, 41, White Sulphur Springs, 2:59:14
Brian Fruit, 47, Missoula, 2:59:20
Matt Edwards, 31, Bozeman, 3:01:08
Dean Lipp, 48, Missoula, 3:03:15
Michael Girolami, 22, Billings, 3:03:27
Todd Mays, 37, Billings, 3:03:36

I also needed to take a minute to recognize the great run by Tim Brooker from Plains and the Runner's Edge in Missoula. Running a superbly paced race, Tim (at 58) was the 14th Montanan finishing in 3:12:59 (7:22 pace) for 28th in the 55 - 59 age group. Going out at 1:39:18 for the 1st half, Tim came back in 1:33:41 for the 2nd half to hit an almost 6 minute negative split. Each 10K was faster than the one before (starting at 47:35 and 43:50 for his last 10K). Pretty studly running for big Tim.

For full results (overall and searchable results), check out www.bostonmarathon.org

The Muddy Buzzard