Pacific Grove Lighthouse 5K By the Bay 3K 2014 OFFICIAL RESULTS BOOK November 15 & 16, 2014 Greetings from the Event Organizers Dear Athletes and Friends... Thank you for participating in the 12th Presentation Thanks to the many hundreds who completed the post-race of Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay. Race survey. Your responses and suggestion are helpful for improv- weekend once again featured beautiful weather with calm, ing the event experience. A summary of some of the notable cool and sunny running conditions that helped thousands set demographic details and comments begins on page 4. personal records. Be sure and follow us on Facebook (look for us under “Big This event is produced by the same team of dedicated Sur International Marathon”) and follow us on Twitter (@ volunteers and staff that produce the Big Sur International BSIMEvents). We’ll keep you informed of developments Marathon weekend of events in April, the Run in the Name for all of our events including when registration opens, fun of Love 5K in Carmel on Father’s Day, and the year-round contests, and interesting conversations with fellow runners JUST RUN youth fitness program. Our non-profit organi- around the world. Also, be sure to download our mobile zation’s mission is to serve the community by providing a app at the App Store or Google Play; search under “BSIM world-class marathon and related fun events that raise money Events.” to benefit local charities while promoting health and fitness. Whether this was your first race or five hundredth, we hope More than 2,000 volunteers from local groups and organiza- you had a great experience and will make plans to join us tions work on all aspects of the events. During the 30-year again next year—and tell your friends. history of the BSIM organization, more than $3.5 million has been awarded to these hard-working groups, military Thanks again for your participation and best wishes for your units and organizations. Please see the list of these volunteer training and racing. organizations on page 44. This race also would not be possible without the support of many dedicated sponsors and suppliers, the cities of Monterey John L. Mutty Doug Thurston and Pacific Grove, and our friends at California State Parks. Chairman of the Board Race Director Big Sur International Marathon Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay Kevin Cullen Start of the 2014 Half Marathon on Monterey Bay Cover photo by Marianne Mangold Half Marathon on Monterey Bay • Page 2 • Official 2014 Results Book Elite Review Repeat winners: Over 7,000 runners lined up under sunny skies and Jacob Chemtai (left) 1:03:22 good racing conditions for the 12th Presentation of and the Half Marathon on Monterey Bay. Temperatures in Sarah Kiptoo (below) 1:13:40 the low 50’s and light wind contributed to hopes of running a great race for the 30-plus elite athlete field. Though conditions seemed ideal for running, the times of the top three competitors were slightly slower than in 2013. Jacob Chemtai, the 2013 winner, finished at 1:03:22, 38 sec- onds slower than his near-course record time last year. Sec- ond place male winner Nelson Oyugi, placed second again at 1:03:31, 41 seconds off his 2013 time. Repeat female winner Sarah Kiptoo, who took the lead from the beginning, finished at 1:13;40, a little ovser two minutes off her 2013 time. Guor Maker, a 2012 Olympic marathoner, went out with the leaders but dropped back near mile three and he held that position to the finish, coming in at 1:05:52. Maker, now a Pictures by MarathonFoto U.S. citizen, was called “the man without a country” dur- ing the London Olympics, where he ran under the Olympic flag since his native country of South Sudan did not have an en. Kara Foster (2nd place female) of Boalsburg, PA, took Olympic Committee. home a $500 bonus for coming in under the Olympic Trials threshold at 1:14:29. Kristen Zaitz (3rd place) of Broomfield, The prize purse of $20,000, the largest in the western U.S. for CO, finished at 1:14:37, though had previously qualified for half marathons was distributed among the top eight male and the trials earlier this year. No American male finished under female runners, and the top three male and female Masters the qualifying standard. (over age 40). This year, additional cash bonuses were award- ed to the top three male and female American runners and to The top three Americans for the cash bonus included Maker, any runner qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Sean Gildea (5th place) of Thousand Oaks, CA (1:06:33), Trials with a time of sub-1:05 for men and sub-1:15 for wom- and James Lander (6th place) of Fullerton, CA (1:07:24). The top three American females were Foster (1:14:29), Zaitz (1:14:37) and Jenna Boren of Menlo Park, CA, who placed 7th at 1:17:04. Top Masters runners included Christine Kennedy of Los Gatos, CA, who placed first among females at 1:27:19. The 59-year-old finished well ahead of the much younger 2nd (age 46) and 3rd (age 44) place winners. This is her fifth masters title at this event. Chris Knorzer of Rocklin, CA, won his second masters title in 1:11:05. MarathonFoto Christine Kennedy took home her fifth Female Masters Champion title Half Marathon on Monterey Bay • Page 3 • Official 2014 Results Book We’re Listening... 2014 Exit Poll Results Event Demographics EXIT POLL OVERALL APPROVAL RATINGS • 65% female and 35% male (all events) Course 98% • 50% of registered Half Marathoners were between 30 Volunteers 97% and 49 years of age. 71 runners were age 70 or older Overall Event Organization 96% • 84% were from CA and 131 people came from 21 Gear Check 96% foreign countries. The top 10 states were CA, NV, Aid Stations 95% TX, CO, WA, IL, NY, AZ, MN and OR Start Area 95% Online Registration Process 95% • 94% have a college degree or higher Race Weekend Instructions 94% • 60% are in professional, managerial or administrative Timing & Results 93% occupations Packet Pick-up 92% Website 92% • 74% have a household income of $75K or more Course Entertainment 92% • For 19% it was their first ever half marathon and for Awards Ceremony 92% 65% it was their first Big Sur event. 49 people have Toilet Facilities 92% run all prior Big Sur Half Marathons Finish Area 90% Post-race Refreshments 89% • 2% of our registrants were active military Social Media 87% Event Shirt Design 83% Expo 82% Race Merchandise 81% Other Exit Poll Results • 39% were past participants and 33% learned of our event by “word of mouth” • 52% stayed in Monterey followed by 7% in Pacific Grove. 10% live locally • 23% stayed on the Peninsula for 3 or more days and 31% traveled with 3 or more other people • If this was not their first half marathon, 30% ran a PR (personal record) • The most-worn shoe was Brooks (27%), followed by ASICS (26%), Nike (14%), and Saucony (11%) • 2% were running for a charity • 73% are “very likely” to participate in one of our events again Guadalupe Arias For 2014 running conditions were ideal Half Marathon on Monterey Bay • Page 4 • Official 2014 Results Book We’re Listening... (continued) Suggestions for Next Year? We’re On It! experience, most GPS devices show courses as longer than the Thank you to those who completed the post-race survey and/ certified distance. The Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey or shared comments and suggestions on ways we can improve Bay was measured by our race director Doug Thurston, who our events. We are very proud of the work done by our is an internationally-accredited course measurer. For those volunteer race committee but we also understand that not interested, Thurston offers a comprehensive explanation of every participant had a 100-percent positive race weekend course measurement and GPS readings HERE. experience. Some of the more frequent concerns included the tight fit of the women’s half-marathon shirts that resulted in We know there are more choices than ever for those who running out of some sizes, crowding at the aid stations on the want to run a fall half marathon or 5K. Thanks to all of course, and delays getting through the post-race runner food you for being a part of the 2014 Big Sur Half Marathon on area. We are already looking at ways to improve these and Monterey Bay and we hope you’ll join us again on November other important areas. Shirts have been mailed to all those 8, 2015 for our 13th presentation. Registration will open on who did not receive one race weekend. April 1, 2015 at 7:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time Your sug- gestions and comments for future races are always welcome. We also learned from the survey how many of you did Please send them to [email protected]. more than just run your race. Most participants also spent time visiting, shopping or pursuing recreational activities in downtown Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel and visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf. We pride ourselves on being a destination event and hope you had the time and opportunity to explore the beauti- ful Monterey Peninsula. More and more runners run with GPS-enabled watches or smart phone distance-measuring apps. If you use one of these handy training devices, you may have noticed it measured a course longer than what you anticipated.