Runners battle to one of the closest ever finishes at Oklahoma City marathon
Two women battled right to the finish at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on April 24 and race officials needed a photo finish to determine the winner.
Catherine “Cat” Lisle needed every last metre to edge out Danielle Hodge for the win at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on April 24. The two had a back-and-forth duel over the final 300 metres of the race as the winner was determined by a photo finish.
With less than a minute of racing left, Hodge had a sizeable lead over Lisle, which she relinquished for a brief moment before surging ahead the moment she saw Lisle to her right. The move with 200 metres to go was a costly one, however, as she again let Lisle catch up and crossed the line just a fraction of a second behind the winner.
The whole finishing sprint is made better thanks to the aerial footage of the race. There were 24,818 runners at Sunday morning’s race.
Both Lisle and Hodge crossed the finish line in 3:09:15. Footage of the race can be found below:
“My mind felt good but my legs were very tired,” Lisle said after the race as she described the final 50 metres of the 42.195K race. The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon celebrated its 16th anniversary on Sunday.
According to the marathon, Lisle also won the 2010 Oklahoma City Marathon in a similar fashion. Six years ago, she won by just one second in the first of her two wins in the state capital.
In the men’s race, first-time marathoner and volunteer assistant athletics coach at the University of Oklahoma Patrick Gomez won 2:38:43 and claimed that he had a bit of assistance along the way.
“The crowd support was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. One runner even stopped his race to work out the cramping in my legs,” said Gomez. Leg cramps forced him to stop on numerous occasions but he had built up a large lead in the early portions of the race.
IAU World 50K champion and notable trail runner Camille Herron is the Oklahoma City Marathon women’s course record holder (2:54:55).
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