Southern Utahs Hobie Call Qualifies For The Marathon Olympic Trials
Call destroys course record
Hobie Call was in town a year ago when Kenyan George Towett took down his course record at the NordicTrack Top of Utah Marathon.
Needless to say, Call — who placed third a year ago — wasn’t overly excited when Towett covered the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 20 minutes, 2 seconds, which was more than five minutes faster than the standard Call established in 2002.
The LaVerkin native had a chance to do something about it a year later, and boy did he ever.
Call flew through the course like it was a jog in the park, finishing the Hardware Ranch-to-Merlin Olsen Park event in an eye-popping 2:16:39. For his efforts, Call earned $2,000 in cash — $1,000 for winning the ninth annual event, and $500 apiece for breaking the course record and eclipsing the 2:20 barrier.
“I don’t like to get beat on a course I like,” Call said. “... I wasn’t going to let that happen again this year.”
And while Call stole the show, he was hardly the only person to shine Saturday. He wasn’t the only person to capture his second title at the TOU, either.
Richmond resident Carol Rowe returned to the marathon scene after a four-year hiatus and made her presence immediately felt. Rowe, the 2001 champion, returned in style, blowing away the women’s field with a personal-record time of 2:53:36.
“I wanted to run a PR and I was thinking, ‘yeah I could probably do a 2:55,’” Rowe said. “So, I was kind of hoping to do below a 2:55. I felt stronger than I had in the past. In the past, I always started out too fast and then faded in the last half, and this year I was strong enough that I didn’t fade quite as much in the second half.”
As well as Rowe ran, the buzz that reverberated amongst the competitors was Call’s impressive clocking, and rightfully so.
Just how splendid was Call’s showing? Strong enough to eclipse the U.S. Olympic “A” qualifying standard. Any man who runs a 2:17 or better in a USATF certified marathon, receives an all-expenses paid trip to the U.S. Olympic Trials.
The TOU Marathon is USATF certified for the Olympic Trials — as is the Boston Marathon, for that matter — so Call will be making the trip to New York City in six weeks.
“Six weeks sounds awfully close, but I’ll be ready,” said Call, who ran the first 13 miles in an astounding 1:06 and maintained a 5:12-per-mile clip throughout the race. “It’s exciting.”
What made Call’s performance even more impressive was the fact that he beat a pair of Kenyan runners in the process. Ezekiel Ruto finished second with a time of 2:24:26, while countryman and Georgia resident Joseph Sitienei was third (2:25:42).
“It feels good. It’s good to see them here, because you like the competition,” Call said. “It’s motivation to know you have to run hard. But yeah, it feels good to beat guys who you figure are probably doing this for a living.”
The 30-year-old, who ran a then-PR time of 2:23:08 a year ago, credited his success Saturday to improved training and peaking at the right time.
“Well, last year I was just beginning my base training, so I had no speed work whatsoever,” Call said. “My strength and endurance were pretty good, but no speed work at all, so I wasn’t able to take advantage of the downhills at all.”
Ruto knows precisely what Call is talking about, and said that is exactly what he needs to work on.
“When I go back to Kenya, I need to do a lot of speed work,” Ruto said. “But mileage, I am OK. I have enough mileage.”
The 33-year-old had aspirations of finishing in 2:18, but a bothersome knee slowed him down on the downhill section, which encompasses more than half the course.
And while second place is still a notable achievement, Ruto realizes there are several things he needs to improve on.
“Yeah, (second is) good, but what I want to do now is to improve my training,” said Ruto, who started competing in marathons in 2005.
Rounding out the top five in the men’s field were two-time TOU champion Sasha Pachev (2:28:42) and 2004 runner-up Steve Ashbaker (2:36:43). Cache Valley residents Jon Allen and Paul Petersen, and Logan Fielding, Adam Wendel and Bill Cobler occupied the next five positions.
As for the women’s competition, Rowe was never really challenged for her title. Runner-up Amy Laughter finished nearly 15 minutes behind the 35-year-old Rowe.
Not having another female competitor within striking distance of her didn’t really bother Rowe, though. After all, she had a handful of athletes on the men’s side to chase.
“Well, there’s always people around. It doesn’t matter if they’re male or female,” said Rowe, who posted the 17th fastest time of the day. “I just kind of focus on the next person in front of me and just try and track them down.”
A lack of a challenger didn’t prevent Rowe — the event’s only two-time titlist on the women’s side — from finishing with the fourth-fastest time in the history of the TOU. Not bad for someone who hadn’t done a competitive race longer than a half marathon since 2003.
Then again, the native of New York has competed in several 5- and 10-kilometer races over that timespan, and beat all comers in the 5,000 meters at the Utah State-hosted Mark Faldmo Invitational this past spring. Rowe ran unattached and defeated a handful of collegiate runners.
“It’s not I just went in cold turkey and I decided three months ago just to start training,” said Rowe, who moved to Cache Valley in 1995. “I had a base to work on, so that helped.”
Although Laughter wasn’t able to keep up with Rowe, the 25-year-old was pleasantly surprised with her effort. After all, it was the Ogden native’s first experience running a marathon.
“My goal was to be one of the top five in my age group, so I’m really happy,” said the mother of two. “It makes me want to do another one.”
Needless to say, Laughter handily exceeded those expectations, and Saturday’s success influenced the former Weber State harrier to modify her goals for the future.
“I’m really excited to do another one,” Laughter said. “... I really want to do another one and try to improve and get under three hours. That’s my next goal, and I think I can do it.”
Joining Rowe and Laughter in the top 10 were Genevieve Keogh, Molly Behunin, recent Mountain Crest graduate Kira Datwyler, longtime Cache Valley standout Jamie Williams, Michelle Georato, Smithfield’s Ralee Eck, Barbara Klein and Becky Lowrance. All 10 women finished with times of 3:20 or better.
TOU Notes: The TOU Marathon course starts at an elevation of 5,700 feet before eventually dropping to 4,600. ... Twenty-eight athletes broke the three-hour barrier, down from 39 a year ago, but up from 22 in 2005. ... Kendall Dilling, a 9-year-old from Canada, finished the race in 5:00:38. He is believed to be the youngest competitor ever to finish the TOU Marathon. ... Logan resident Julia Barrett was the oldest athlete to finish within the allotted time. Barrett, 76, clocked in at 6:28:48.