I took a few photos early in the Route 66 Marathon on Sunday from the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge in Tulsa, including one shot from the overpass itself that overlooks the Mother Road.
The top finisher of the 26.2 miles was Jerry Faulkner of Tulsa in a record time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, 20 seconds. The top women’s finisher was Gail Brooks of Waco, Texas, in 3:02:46. Results can be seen here.
It was estimated there were a total of 5,000 to 6,000 entrants in the marathon, half-marathon, quarter marathon, marathon relay and a kids race.
Laurel Kane, who co-owns the historic Afton Station on Route 66 in Afton, Okla., rode in her former husband’s 1950 Studebaker, which was used as a pace car.
I also learned that the Pace Car driver doesn’t have as cushy a job as one might think. With no power steering in the Studebaker, making some of the turns was dicey. Also, once we got to the point where the course had switched back and there were runners both with us and running against us in the other lane, it was tricky for David to miss some of the runners who, because they had iPods in their ears and couldn’t hear the police sirens or our horn, just veered out in the path of the car. David had a pretty big job of making sure everyone on the course stayed safe as we passed.
On a sad note, a 21-year-old half-marathon runner collapsed and later died at a local hospital. No cause of death was known. It was the first death in the three years of the event.
I looked for you, figuring you’d be somewhere along the route, and I even looked as we passed under the bridge, but never saw you. I looked for Emily too, but apparently also missed her. Admittedly, it was a sea of humanity once we doubled back and started passing the half-marathoners. I tried! Great photos, Ron!