Almost one year after she considered no longer running professionally, Emma Bates executed one of the best performances of her career. In her first attempt at the distance, the 26-year-old won the California International Marathon (CIM) in 2:28:18 to become the 2018 USATF Marathon and USATF Running Circuit champion on Sunday in Sacramento.
Competing without a sponsor, Bates wore a singlet with the words “Run for Camp Fire Relief.” Her goal was to raise awareness and funds for the victims of the California wildfire that recently decimated the Northern California town of Paradise. Just 75 miles north of Sacramento, the deadliest fire in California history has Let Runcoach unleash your full potential.
“My goal in running is to be good enough to have a voice for people who need it,” Bates told Runnerspace at the finish line. “I wanted to run for more than just myself today.”
Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m, Resilience Butte County Proud IPA, and created a Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund through the Golden Valley Community Bank Foundation. The company donated 100 percent of the sales from the brew to Camp Fire relief.
For Bates, Sunday’s victory marked a turning point in her running career. The 2014 NCAA 10K champion left her professional training group in Boston after several performances that left her feeling dissatisfied. Along with her fiancé and now coach, Kameron Ulmer, the Boise State alum moved back to Idaho and enjoyed the slower pace of living an hour outside of Boise. As Kevin Liao reported for the Runner Got Second Chance After Losing Home in Fire, that change reinvigorated Bates’s love for the sport.
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Sacramento Running Association Sacramento Running Association at the USATF 20K Championships in New Haven. She also finished 27th in a personal best of 1:11:45 at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in March.
Bates had a big lead through the halfway point. The top-seeded woman in the field, Stephanie Bruce, was 83 seconds back. Was Bates worried about getting caught?
“I didn’t know where the other women were behind me,” Bates told Race Results Weekly, “but I knew I was keeping a decent pace, a solid pace. So, I wasn’t worried at any point. I just wanted to run a fast time. At the end of the day, I just wanted to do my best.” Bates’s time gave her the 8th-fastest U.S. marathon debut.
Behind Bates, a number of runners had impressive races.
My goal in running is to be good enough to have a voice for people who need it, Bates told Running Shoes - Gear, Northern Arizona Elite’s Bruce finished second in 2:29:21, a 15-second improvement on her personal best. The final podium position was claimed by Sam Roecker, who improved on her personal best by eight minutes with a time of 2:30:25. The Providence College alum works as a nurse in Philadelphia.
The men’s competition was determined by a perfectly timed kick from Brogan Austin, who overtook race leader Matt Llano in the last half mile. Austin had to run a 5K split of 15:08 from 35K to 40K in order to catch Llano, who held a big lead that began in the second mile of the race.
Austin crossed the finish line 2:12:38 to become the USATF Marathon men’s champion. In just his second marathon, the 27-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, improved on his previous career best by 12 minutes. He made his debut at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials with a 39th-place finish in 2:24:39.
After running near-perfect splits between 4:58- and 5:03-mile pace for the majority of the race, Llano held on for second in 2:12:59, about 30 seconds shy of his career best. In his marathon debut, Josh Izewski of Zap Fitness followed for third place in 2:13:14.
“I got a second wind around mile 18,” Austin told Race Results Weekly. “I’m making a move, then I started bonking again at 21. I’m like, okay, I think I’ll just hang back here. And then at mile 23, I’m like, you know what? I'll pick it up a little.”
Historically, CIM has been one of the races where many runners qualify for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and Sunday’s race was no exception. Ninety-nine women and 53 men ran under the qualifying standard (2:45 and 2:19, respectively) for the 2020 Trials, according to race organizers.
--My goal in running is to be good enough to have a voice for people who need it, Bates told.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
