Marsh Races Out to Early Lead, Wins Coronado Half-Marathon

CORONADO —  Sleepy-eyed Jerry Marsh wasn’t really thinking about winning his second Coronado half-marathon at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. He thought staying close to the leaders might be difficult enough to accomplish in weather he described as “too hot.”

But after surveying the field, Marsh realized early that he might have to re-evaluate his thinking.

“It was not a stellar field,” said Marsh, comparing the competition to other years when the half-marathon has been used as training for the Olympic Trials.

Marsh, a former San Diegan who now lives in Los Angeles, set his own pace and cruised to a 10-second victory over runner-up Marshall Varano of San Diego in the 16th Coronado half-marathon.

“Nobody went out and took me out early and when I saw the field, it helped my confidence,” said Marsh, 25, who has been running the July 4 half-marathon since he was 12.

Linda Cash of Denver won the women’s race in 1 hour 24 minutes 12 seconds and Dan Larson was first among wheelchair participants in 1:10:52.

Marsh’s time of 1:10:50 was more than three minutes slower than the winning time last year and six seconds slower than the 1:04 he ran in 1987 when he won the race.

“I couldn’t do a 1:04 today,” he said. “What I did was what I was worth. I think the heat had a lot to do with that.”

The distance may have played a part too. Marsh and four other runners ran an extra 200 to 400 meters because they were misdirected while running on the naval base.

Varano, whose previous best was an 11th-place finish in ‘87, also said he had no designs on winning the race, but suddenly found himself close to the front-runners because of a slower-than-usual pace.

“In the old days, I couldn’t have been anywhere close to up there,” said Varano, 25. “This time I went out easy and stayed within range. You get down when you don’t see anybody in front of you. But that didn’t happen today.”

Steve Flynn finished nine seconds behind Varano in third place.

And while the blazing sun and humidity may have bothered many of the runners, Cash seemed to be unaffected.

“I never felt like I was working very hard,” said Cash, a veteran of hilly Colorado half-marathons and 10Ks. “If you come down from the altitude, it makes it a lot easier.” Cash said her victory was special for a couple of reasons.

“I’m here for a reunion and I didn’t know what to expect from the competition down here,” she said. “It was nice because I turn 40 in two weeks and winning a race on the 4th of July is kind of special.”

About 2,500 competed in the half-marathon.