Mike Wisniewski Wins Eugene Marathon

He was the second-fastest runner in the history of the race.

A 33-year-old from Corvallis, Oregon prevailed in the sixth annual Eugene Marathon last weekend. Mike Wisniewski broke the tape in two hours, 20 minutes, and 42 seconds, a personal best for him.

Wisniewski’s victory was the result of a late-race surge.

“I thought I had a chance today because my training’s been going OK this spring,” Wisniewski said. “I was hoping to run around 2:20 because my PR was 2:22:30. I just tried to run even and was hoping to have a good day. You never know how it’s going to go out. I’m really thankful today went well.”

Teshome Kokebe of Seattle came in second (2:24:16), while Aleksander Tomas placed third in 2:24:37.

“I was feeling pretty discouraged up through mile 12 and 13,” Wisniewski recalled. “I couldn’t see the leaders because there is a lot of winding and turning back there. … A guy on the course told me they were 2 minutes ahead at one point so I said, ‘All right, I’ll just stay at my pace and see what happens,’ because I didn’t think they were going to be able to keep that.”

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