New course, old times

China's Yao, Tennessee vet take slow but sure approach

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 03/01/2015 - Runners pile up at the starting line of the 13th Annual Little Rock Marathon March 1, 2015 on Capitol Avenue between Cumberland and Scott Street.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 03/01/2015 - Runners pile up at the starting line of the 13th Annual Little Rock Marathon March 1, 2015 on Capitol Avenue between Cumberland and Scott Street.

Angie Zinkus didn't get a chance to run against her "hero" Sunday morning in the 13th Little Rock Marathon.

But a text message Zinkus received served from five-time women's winner Leah Thorvilson was a suitable replacement.

Zinkus got what amounted to a four-word pep talk from her friend via text: "Go get it girl"

She didn't break any records, or even record a personal-best time, but Zinkus, a 38-year-old veterinarian from Eads, Tenn., persevered through cold and damp conditions to win the women's division by almost 17 minutes in 2:59:59.7.

Zinkus' winning time was the slowest since Patricia Langum posted 3:17.40 in 2004, the marathon's second running.

It didn't matter to Zinkus, who credited her friendship with Thorvilson, who did not compete, as a reason she was able to navigate a difficult course through unfavorable conditions.

"I never warmed up the entire time," Zinkus said. "I wear two pairs of gloves and my hands are still frozen."

Overall winner Yao Long of Changchun, China, also said, through an interpreter, that the conditions were indeed difficult.

The temperature was 34 degrees with a windchill of 29 at the 8 a.m. start, when the field raced past the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette building on the corner of Capital and Scott.

It had warmed up to 36 degrees when the first runners started to cross the finish line on President Clinton Avenue in the River Market district.

"He is a professional athlete, and wanted to train the best to win the race," Long said through an interpreter.

Long has won two previous marathons in his China, but this was his first time to run in the United States. He decided in October to run the race, when informed that Little Rock and his hometown of Changchun, a city of about 7.5 million people in northeastern China, are sister cities and for the past three years have sent runners to compete in each city's marathon.

Long ran the first half in 1:20:57, less than a minute ahead of eventual second-place finisher James Pearce, of Rockville, Md. Long's lead was three minutes at the 20-mile mark, and eventually finished almost five minutes ahead of Pearce, who finished at 2:49:05.

Long's time was the slowest by the overall winner in the 13 years the marathon has been run.

Marathon officials decided to invest money in the Kids' marathon event rather than trying to lure elite runners with prize money, which no doubt impacted the overall quality of the field.

It's uncertain how the elongated stretch in downtown impacted final times, or whether the nasty weather slowed runners.

"This course is excellent, and the organization is perfect," Long said through his interpreter.

Zinkus said the cold got to her about halfway through the race, right as the runners reached Kavanaugh Boulevard., and on the section of the course that was unchanged from previous years. Zinkus said she checked her time at the halfway point -- 1:29 -- and decided to abandon plans of pursuing a personal record but not a victor.

Zinkus, a former soccer player at Rhodes College in Memphis, ran her first marathon when she was 21, but didn't run her second until she was 35. She won the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in 2012 and has twice run the Boston Marathon. Along the way, she's gotten to be friends with Thorvilson, who holds the course record for a female finisher and has won the race five times, and the two even ran an ultramarathon together two years ago in Maine.

"I would have loved to run it with her and chase her," Zinkus said. "But, I think the world of her. She loves Little Rock so much, I had to come see what this marathon was all about."

Katie Reilly, of Bethlehem, Pa., said she thought she was right on Zinkus' heels when she started climbing the course' steepest incline on Kavanaugh at about the 17-mile mark.

"Someone said she was about 5 minutes ahead, so unless she fell apart, I wasn't getting her," said Reilly, who won marathons in New Jersey and Delaware recently but was running Little Rock for the first time.

Zinkus never was challenged, going as fast as she needed to win on what she called the toughest marathon course she's ran.

"This is something that will live with me forever, having y'all right here interview me," she said in front of a small group of reporters. "In my normal life I'm a veterinarian -- that's what I do day-to-day. This is just a second, and you guys just made my year."

Sports on 03/02/2015

Upcoming Events