2,303 turn out to race at marathon2 min read

Local runner Jesse Martin, Bib No. 2245, leads the pack of 10K runners out of the starting gate at the 11th annual Sedona Marathon Event. Martin finished runner-up in the 10K, while Sedona 12-year-old Nyah Valdez was the second girl in the 5K. Flagstaff runners dominated the rest of the 10K and the field of 2,303 runners Saturday, Feb. 6.

All Thomas Rivers Puzey wanted to do was “take a shower” Saturday, Feb. 6, after his second straight win at the 11th Sedona Marathon Event.


Blood began dripping from the Flagstaff 31-year-old’s nose about five miles from the finish, he said, staining his beard, arms, face and chest.

“I do get dehydrated,” Puzey added while cooling down after winning the full marathon by more than three minutes. “It happens more than I’d like; it’s kind of embarrassing.”

For that reason, although the sunny, clear, 60-degree weather was ideal for the 2,303 participants in the 5K, 10K, half and full marathons, the whole run “just kind of felt like a grind” to Puzey, whose time was 1:05 slower than his 2014 win.

First-time Sedona Marathon Event runner Christine Wenzl came from Vienna, Austria, to become the first female to cross the finish line in the full marathon on what the 34-year-old called “difficult, but the most beautiful marathon I’ve run.”

The fastest local runner was Johan Lagercrantz, who won the men’s 40- to 44-year-old age group with a time of just under 3:33.46.

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Leland Leonard, 63, of Phoenix, beat out 23-year-old Adrian Herder, of Kykotsmovi, to win the half marathon.

Michelle Wesson, a 41-year-old from Flagstaff, who has been a runner since the age of 15, was the only female to eclipse the 90-minute mark in the half marathon.

Local Jesse Martin, 33, came in 1:46 behind Prescott Valley 17-year-old Nakai Lake in the 10K. Flagstaff 33-year-old Claire Lears was fastest female.

The top three 5K runners were all Flagstaff men. West Sedona School teacher Rebecca Vess’ husband, Adam, won, while local 12-year-old Nyah Valdez was 1:16 behind Povi Plank, 15, of Flagstaff.

For more photos and all times of male and female winners’ times, please see the Wednesday, Feb. 10, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.

George Werner

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