ST. GEORGE — In a field of 7,400 runners, it was a St. George man who won the 33-year-old race Saturday morning.
Aaron J. Metler, 26, won the race on the men's side with a time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 8 seconds.
Pepi Peterson, 42, Hudson, Mass., was second with a time of 2:26:49. In third place was Kenneth J. Pliska, 45, Arvada, Colo., with a time of 2:29:13.
On the women's side, Stefanie Talley, 34, of Layton, was first with a time of 2:45:15. Talley also won the Ogden marathon with a time of 2:52:34 in May.
In second place, it was Courtney Meldrum, 33, Bakersfield, Calif., with a time of 2:48:01, and third place went to St. George's Amber H. Green, 29, with a time of 2:48:37.
In the wheelchair division, Emily Y. McQueen, 29, Okemos, Mo., was first with a time of 1:53:44. Nathan Crowton, 39, Ogden, was second, finishing in 1:53:48. Ralph W. Egger, 54, was third with a time of 1:58:41.
In hand cycle, Niel D. Harding, 57, West Bountiful, was the winner with a time of 1:00:48. Mark Marrott, 43, Pleasant Grove, was second with a time of 1:05:11. In third was Muffy Davis, 37, Salt Lake City, who earned a time of 1:05:38.
Runners, who were selected by lottery for the sold-out race, were told the 6:45 a.m. start was the warmest in the race's history. Temperatures stretched into the 90s by the race's end at 1 p.m. Of the 7,400 who started the race, 5,694 finished it. Their average time was 4:24:23, while the last runner to cross the finish line was clocked in 8:08:16. The finish-line festivities ended at 1 p.m.
Metler's winning time was almost a minute slower than last year's winning time of 2:21:03, which was earned by Provo's Iain Hunter.
More people finished this year's race than last year's event, which was named by Runner's World "the most organized race" in the country in January of 2010. The distinction was earned after the magazine launched an online survey in July 2008 asking runners to give an assessment of races they'd run. They commented on everything from registration to the finish to the number of port-potties. They then evaluated 319 marathons, with St. George coming out on top.
e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com