Twenty miles into the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon yesterday, Matthew Folk felt the burst of speed from Richard Kessio and figured that his chance to win the race was fading faster than the slender, accelerating figure of the Kenyan athlete."We ran together until 20," Folk said. "He really dropped a five (-minute mile) time and he left me in the dust and just kept picking it up more and more. I pretty much just said, 'I can't hold that pace.' I was content with like I'm going, just holding a strong pace."
He turned his concentration to finishing the 26-mile, 385-yard course in less than 2 hours and 21 minutes and, once upon another time, slow and steady paid dividends.
"Lo and behold, going after a time, he started coming back to me," Folk said. "At 25, he was within striking distance and I closed the gap. I had some great friends along the course that really got me going. I snuck by him at the end. I don't know if I surprised him or what."
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Folk, 33, nipped Kessio at the tape in the 30th edition of the men's race in 2:20:45. Kessio, 35, finished a couple of strides behind at 2:20:50. He didn't see the Perrysburg runner coming until it was too late.
"Yeah, at the end he surprised me," he said. "I was looking good, but I missed water at two stations. That hurt me. I needed water."
A bit farther back in the record field -- which included 5,000 marathoners, 9,000 half-marathoners and 1,000 5-kilometer runners -- Rachel Kinsman seized control of the women's marathon early in winning her first marathon title at 2:47:44.
Kinsman, 35, was a star distance runner at Archbold (Ohio) High School and for Auburn University in the 1990s. She turned to marathons in '03 but had never run one in Ohio.
The sheer number of competitors made it difficult for her to gauge where she stood among the elite women runners.
"Once the half-marathoners turned off, I was by myself for quite a ways," Kinsman said. "I was always wondering 'Was there somebody else coming behind me?' It's one of those things with a race you never know."
No one challenged her. Maureen Bean Wrenn of Boulder, Colo., finished second at 2:48:34. Kinsman was pleased with more than the $2,500 top prize for the two marathon winners.
"I have two girls -- 2 and 4 -- and having a job and having a family makes it different than when it's just me training," she said. "But I wouldn't change that for the world. It's nice to be able to keep running and doing so well."
The race began Downtown on Broad Street with just the hint of sunrise showing and the temperature a chilly 33 degrees. The cold didn't suit some of the runners.
Watterson High School and Ohio State graduate Nicole Fisher, 24, won the women's half-marathon in 1:17:14.
"It was brutally cold," said Fisher, who now lives in Beach Grove, Ind. "I got to about the 10-mile mark, and I couldn't feel my face. I couldn't blink. I couldn't see the finish line when I crossed."
Daniel Kipkoech, 22, set a course record in the men's half-marathon at 1:03.38. Fellow Kenyan Peter Matelong hit the tape at 1:03:40.
Dane Pilon, 49, scorched the rest of the hand-cycle marathon field by 12 minutes with a winning time of 1:12:15. Jeffrey Fisher of Medina captured the wheelchair marathon in 1:21:23.
"I got behind somebody for the first mile just to get warmed up," Pilon said. "Then I took off. It was a little cold for me. But it was nice. It was a good course. I enjoyed it."
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