The sound of the starters’ pistol officially got the 7th annual Holy Family Memorial Marathon underway yesterday morning near the entrance to the UW-Manitowoc campus. Nearly 600-runners from 21 states & Canada took part in the race that followed the Mariners Trail and Neshotah Park Beach before turning around at the midway point, Port Sandy Bay, and returning to the local campus. The overall champion was Brock Tesdahl, a 25-year old Phy-ed instructor from Hopkins, Minnesota.
Tesdahl was able to set a new course record in a time of 2:34.15.
The first female finisher to cross the finish line was Lauren Hintz of Wind Lake, Wisconsin. A recent medical school graduate, Hintz said her time of 3:20.9 was 8-minutes faster than Boston in April.
Race director Dave Nickels was ‘very’ pleased with the way things played out.
The Half-Marathon winner was Mike Cavanaugh of Manitowoc in 1:25.54, while Kaylee Kornowski of Green Bay was the top female runner at 1:32.47. The Half-Marathon RELAY victor was Team Investors Community Bank in 1:35.15. Nickels said the Holiday House of Manitowoc was this year’s charity partner and that long-standing organization will receive a major donation from the HFM Race committee. A new record field of almost 600-runners took part in the race.