Ryan Kramer seems to like Joplin. Or at least he likes running here.
Kramer battled a relatively hot, windy and hilly course and defended his Mother Road Marathon title on Sunday morning, remaining the only man to win the two-year old event.
“This is definitely special,” said Kramer, a Des Moines, Iowa, chiropractor who spent three years in Joplin after graduating college. “Both years when I finished I said ‘never again.’ This is a tough course. But it is enjoyable.”
Kramer finished in 2 hours, 53 minutes, 46 seconds — 51 seconds ahead of Oklahoma City’s Kevin Doyle. Gary Krugger — from Tempe, Ariz. — was third at 2:56:29.
The trio stayed together from the start in Commerce, Okla., and through Baxter Springs and Riverton, Kan. It was after Riverton, when the Route 66 course starts hitting some hills, that Kramer started pulling away.
“I started pushing a little bit,” said Kramer, who ran a 50-mile race three weeks ago in Wisconsin “I was running a pretty good pace and the other two guys started to fall off a little bit and I was able to maintain.”
Doyle said it was the hills that got to him.
“The course is challenging because towards the end you have quite a few hills,” said Doyle, who also ran in this April’s Boston Marathon. “That really kind of separates everyone out. I was getting pretty tired around mile 20 and then kind of got a second wind around 22.”
This hills didn’t seem to bother Karen Plucinski. The Missouri Southern biology instructor from Carl Junction, Mo., won the women’s race easily, finishing in 3:29:41 — nearly 45 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
“It was tough mentally, but I just ran a marathon in Oregon in August at 8,000 feet of elevation with a three-mile hill, so that helped,” Plucinski said. “After that, this was just mental.”
Plucinski said she decided to sign up for the Mother Road Marathon about five weeks ago, thinking it would be a good warmup for a planned 50-mile race in January. She said she had been training with lots back-to-back days of 10-plus mile runs, but hadn’t done any speed work.
“I started out running at a relatively fast pace for me and I was a little bit concerned,” she said. “But I think my strength carried me through since we’ve been doing the 50-milers.”
Krugger, the third-place finisher in the men’s race, wrapped up an impressive feat with his finish. It was his last stop in his challenge to finish a sub-three-hour marathon in all 50 states.
“I finished all of them last Halloween and had 31 sub-3s,” said Krugger, an engineer in Tempe. “I figured I would go ahead and get the rest.”
Sports
Related Photos
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Globe/T. Rob Brown Men's division leaders (from left) first-place Ryan Kramer, third-place Gary Krugger, of Tempe, Ariz., and second-place Kevin Koyle, of Oklahoma City, keep pace with each other in the Mother Road Marathon Sunday morning, Oct. 9, 2011, as they travel through Baxter Springs, Kan.
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Globe/T. Rob Brown Karen Plucinski of Carl Junction wins the women's division of the Mother Road Marathon Sunday morning, Oct. 9, 2011, at the finish line in the Joplin Athletic Complex.
Discussion
October 10, 2011
Kramer defends Mother Road title
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Outlaws open season Thursday on the road
Chris Oldner takes a cut during the Joplin Outlaws practice Tuesday afternoon. The Outlaws open their season on Thursday night at Rossville and play seven road games before their home opener on June 5.
The Joplin Outlaws and new coach Rob Vessell have set some lofty goals for the 2012 baseball season.
Continued ... - Stanton’s homers fuel Marlins’ surge in May
- Five sign to join Missouri Southern women's track team
- Whisner ignites Joplin Miners past Webb City
- Venus Williams joins Serena on sideline in Paris
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- Pittsburg State Sports
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- Vengels sixth in heptathlon; PSU picks up two seventh-place finishes
- Ethan Cordray signs with Pittsburg State
- Lions, Gorillas begin competition in outdoor track and field championship
- Three finalists named for PSU head baseball coach position
- Lions qualify 10, PSU 15 for Division II outdoor track meet
- Missouri Southern Sports
- High School Sports
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Area athletes turn shine at state meet
Webb City's Jarvis Jones takes sixth in the 200.
- Cleo Elbert steps down at Thomas Jefferson
- Frontenac wins first state baseball title
- Joplin's Jeremy Lynn takes fifth at state tennis
- Frontenac advances at state baseball
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