Ellington
Repeat Champion, Wolski Wins
Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon
Windy and cold conditions did not stop nearly 5,000 runners from participating in the 5th annual Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. Despite the weather, it was a record attendance that was well represented by Runners Market Team Racing.
Winning the marathon for the 2nd consecutive year was Knoxville's Stewart Ellington while running solo the second half, finished in a time of 2:29:02. The former UT All-American won last years' race after overcoming a 3 minute deficit and catching the leaders with two miles to go. This year, Ellington took the lead from the gun beating out runner up Justin Gillette by over seven minutes.
Former Farragut standout, Kathy Wolski, took the women's crown in a time of 3:03:21 after finishing 3rd in last years' event. Wolski also had to run alone the majority of the race, which took a toll mentally but finished two minutes clear of Pennsylvanian Tammy Slusser.
The half marathon was lead by Jason Lokawatom of Ohio and Kelsey Armstrong of Morristown clocking times of 1:07:00 and 1:20:58 respectively. Runners Market team member Andy Baksa was second overall in 1:08:00, an impressive time considering the wind and terrain. Also running strong for the Big Red were Andrew Press finishing third in 1:10:11, Bobby Holcombe - 1:15:14, Eric Malkowski - 1:15:42, Keith Gemeinhart - 1:22:09, Kely Braswell - 1:26:35 and Bobby Sumpter - 1:33:21.
On the ladies side, former William Blount and ETSU runner Emily Chaney led the way for the team with a fourth place finish clocking a 1:25:49. Anna Shamey set a huge PR in 1:28:07 and Doris Windsand Dausman won her age group in a time of 1:42:47.
Many thanks to marathon director Jason Altman, his staff and especially to the hundreds of volunteers who devoted long hours throughout the weekend and past months to ensure this event was the biggest and best yet!
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