Branden Scheel is two-for-two.
The Fargo runner has run two marathons in his life. And he won them both.
Scheel, 22, won the 2018 Wild Hog Marathon on a cold, brisk Saturday morning in Grand Forks with a time of 2 hours, 42 minutes, 7 seconds.
He easily beat out the rest of the field.
Jonathan Green, 47, of Grand Forks finished second in 2:53:23 and Joe Buckentine, 55, of St. Cloud, Minn., finished third in 2:59:57.
ADVERTISEMENT
Scheel defended his title from last year’s event, which was his first marathon. He ran that one in 2:43:48.
“I felt really, really good,” Scheel said. “The half marathon was one of the best half marathons in my life. Through the 20 mile, I was still at a sub six-minute mile the whole time. Once we turned back to go against the wind, it got really cold.
“I talked to other runners and everyone started locking up because of the cold air. I slowed down quite a bit there. I started feeling some knee problems. I didn’t want to push anything too hard. I talked to the lead biker and we slowed down, eased up and had some fun the last couple miles. . . as much fun as you can have in the last five (miles) of a marathon.”
Before turning back into the wind, Scheel was hoping for a time about seven minutes faster, but added, “I’ll take the 2:42 any day.”
Scheel, who also won Friday night’s 5K, ran the marathon in preparation for an Iron Man on Nov. 18 in Tempe, Ariz.
“This was really good timing,” he said of the Wild Hog. “It’s a really nice start of the training block for that. It’s kind of a good gauge where I should be looking for my marathon pace for that race.
“I also ran here last year and it’s always fun to come back and defend the title.”
Garrioch gets first win Fiona Garrioch ran her 22nd marathon on Saturday morning.
ADVERTISEMENT
For the first time, she left as the champion.
Garrioch, a 38-year-old from Brandon, Man., won her first marathon, completing the Wild Hog course in 3:28:59.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” she said. “There’s going to be some celebrating going on later, I know that much.”
Second-place Michele Fischer, 36, of Wayne, Penn., finished in 3:32:55. Third-place Anna Simet, 33, of Carver, Minn., finished in 3:37:17.
“I know all of my times,” Garrioch said. “I’m usually in the top 10. When they said at 14 miles that I was the first female, I was excited. That kept me going as well. Everyone is suffering when you get ot 16-20 miles. Everyone hurts.”
Garrioch ran the Wild Hog marathon in 2016 and finished ninth in 3:38:06.
“I was faster than I was two years ago,” Garrioch said. “It wasn’t the time I wanted, but it wasn’t far off considering the weather conditions.”
Rosseau, Freund win half marathons Two Grand Forks residents won the Wild Hog Half Marathons on Saturday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ann Freund, a former Grand Forks Red River standout, finished in 1:29:39.
Freund, 30, finished ahead of Barbara Arntson, 41, of East Grand Forks, who came in second in 1:30:34.
Kyle Rosseau, a former UND standout runner, won the men’s side in 1:17:09. Rosseau beat out second-place Jayden Wheeling, 19, of Cavalier, N.D., who finished in 1:22:26.
Adam Pangrac of Moorhead won the men’s 10K in 34:45, finishing two seconds ahead of Loren Howard of Grand Forks.
Elena Danielson of Grand Forks won the women’s 10K in 38:46. Second-place Emily Ratzlaff finished in 40:05.
