Ely turns out to cheer on racers

ELY— The cheers could, at times, be heard from blocks away, as hundreds of racers competed this past Saturday in the Ely Marathon and the Highland Bank Half Marathon, held here as part of an event that— nine years in— seems to turn out the entire community.
Runners were greeted with light morning showers as they left Ely in buses for the trek to the starting lines up the Echo trail, but the bright double rainbow that was visible along the way seemed to portend what ultimately became an excellent morning for racing.
While the courses wind along the edge of the wilderness, spectators appeared out of the woods all along the route and hundreds of volunteers manned aid stations to hand out water and electrolytes and cheer the runners on.
Race organizer Wendy Lindsey estimated at least 380 volunteers, equal to about ten percent of Ely’s population, turned out to help in a myriad of ways. It was the ninth running of the marathon this year and Lindsey said it seems they might finally be getting the organizational details down. “It went really well this time,” she said. “It was the first year we didn’t have any major panics. Fortunately, most of our volunteers have been with us for nine years now, so they know what to do.”
A total of 372 racers finished their races, including 92 in the full marathon. Sixty-eight-year-old Brent Smith ran the 26.2-mile course in 3:12.19 to take first place, followed by Charles Marshik, age 45, who finished in 3:15.07. John Crosby, age 36, took third in a time of 3:24.19. On the women’s side, 29-year-old Amy Bianco Regan finished first in a time of 3:17.01, pacing the field by a whopping 14:09 over second-place finisher, 39-year-old Julie Helsene, who finished in 3:31.10. Molly Gardner finished third in 3:37.58.
In the half marathon, 35-year-old William Sackett posted the fastest time with a 1:22.01, while 62-year-old Paul Kuchenmeister finished second in 1:27.53. Fifty-year-old Walter Skahl finished third in a time of 1:32:04.
Among the women, 47-year-old Kari Brown took first with a time of 1:43.30, while Wendy Krause finished second in 1:44.54. Aurora Kothe finished third with a time of 1:46.17.
In the kids marathon, Nolan Niskala finished first in a time of 8:29, just ahead of Fletcher Chopp, who took second in 8:52 and Toren Harding in a time of 8:56. The kids marathoners had accumulated at least 25 miles running ahead of the event and ran the last 1.2 miles of the course on race day.
More than a dozen racers ran the half marathon with their dogs, who are now allowed under the rules, and all of the participating dogs were awarded blue “first place” bandanas. That included official Timberjay dog “Loki,” who ran with owner Jodi Summit.
While race volunteers were spread across the sprawling race course, most of the activity was centered on Whiteside Park, which had a carnival-like atmosphere with bouncy houses for kids and food and beverage trucks and live music for the adults.