Cool weather greeted participants at the 12th annual Platte Valley Companies Monument Marathon, but the new course heated up as records fell in the men’s and women’s full marathon divisions.
533 runners took to the foggy courses in the morning, with the full and half marathons starting at 7:30a, and the half marathon relay and 5k getting underway about fifteen minutes later.
In the men’s full, anticipation built among race officials and spectators as the top finisher, Bryan Morseman of Wheeler, New York, approached the chute leading to the finish line at a pace close to the course record, set in 2021 by Alex Ekesa. In that year, Morseman finished second to Ekesa by 40 seconds, but this year, he broke the tape in 02:28:49, 46 seconds faster Ekesa’s now-former record.
The same excitement was present for women’s top finisher Rebecca Peterson of Casper, Wyoming, but the question in her case was just how fast her new course record time would be. Peterson broke the tape in 03:05:28, shattering the previous record of Annmarie Wilson by more than 11 minutes. After the race, Peterson, who has only been running full marathons since 2021, said it was another step toward her goal of running a sub three-hour race.
There were no new course records in the men’s and women’s half marathon this year, but very strong performances just the same for Alejandro Garcia of Chappell and Jessica Cunningham of Johnstown, Colorado. Garcia, a perennial top finisher in the men’s half, finished in 01:12:08. Cunningham finished the women’s half in 01:26:54, breaking the tape as a top finisher for the very first time in her running career.
In the half marathon relay, team RUN WEST had the top overall and women’s time at 01:35:09. The top co-ed team, RED DESERT RUNNING CO, had the second fastest overall time of 01:53:19, and the top men’s team, TWO AND A HALF MEN, finished in 02:07:25, the fourth fastest overall time.
Landon Walker of Ft. Collins, Colorado took top honors in the men’s 5K division with a time of 00:20:19, while Analya Sedano of East Moline, Illinois was the top women’s finisher at 00:21:46.
