A familiar face in the Cincinnati running community won the 12^th Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon powered by P&G as a record field of 26,000 braved cloudy skies and intermittent rain to take part in the two days of events.  

Winning the Flying Pig Marathon was 26-year-old Brian List of Miamiville, Ohio, who won the Pig in a time of 2:31:56 for his first-ever marathon win. List was the runner-up in the 2008 Marathon and was the winner of the 2009 Cincinnati Heart Mini-Marathon. Second in the men’s division was 30-year-old Tilahun Abebe, in 2:34:41. Abebe was the winner of the 2006 Flying Pig Half Marathon. Third was Rob Morwood, 35, of Lebanon, Ohio, in 2:36:07. The top three runners all train as members of the local Earth Drummers running club.

List had been running among the leaders for most of the marathon before overtaking Abebe at about mile 22. “I’ve been aiming for a 2:30 time the last three years,” said List. “This year, I said, even though I fall off the 2:30 pace, I’ll just try to run a little faster than I had before. I’ve always been a good runner from behind.”

In the women’s division, 26-year-old Cynthia Arnold of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, won in 2:55:02. While this is her first traditional marathon win in her first Pig, she is the reigning USATF Trail Marathon National Champion. Back in the area visiting family in Lexington, Kentucky, Cynthia decided to run after getting a cortisone shot and a larger sized shoe for a foot injury.

“I didn’t know how fast I could run today (because of the injury), but I was in the front pretty much. When the half broke off, I was by myself and the crowd kept telling me how I was doing. In fact, that’s my favorite part of these races, the crowd support. In trail races, nobody knows where you are.”

Arnold’s husband, Louis Brenner, also ran in today’s Half Marathon, finishing his event in 1:40:49.

Second in the women’s division was Marnie Staehly, 32, from Houston, Texas, in her first Pig, and third with a time of 3:02:30 was 28-year-old Rachel Bea of Cincinnati, who, as Rachel Stoehr, was the winner of the 2008 Flying Pig Half Marathon. Bea, a running coach at Simon Kenton High School, actually was involved in her second event of Pig weekend. She coaches a Ryland Runners team that participated in the Ernst & Young Kids One Mile event on Saturday.

In the Flying Pig Half Marathon, two Cincinnati-area residents were the winners in the male and female divisions. Sycamore High graduate Ben Foley, a sophomore at Xavier University, won the event in 1:12:35, while 23-year-old Leslie Kraus, a University of Cincinnati graduate, won the women’s division in 1:24:23.

“In the beginning I thought I might have been silly going out in front,” said Foley, who was running in his second Flying Pig Half Marathon and had to battle anemia the last few months before having the strength to train. “I wondered when the other competitors were going to catch up, because I rarely run this distance. But I felt like after the 10K mark I was in good enough shape and I kept telling myself to keep holding my lead.”

Second in the men’s division was 31-year-old Jason Gantt of Loveland, OH, in a time of 1:13.25, and third was former Flying Pig Marathon and Half Marathon winner T.J. Lentz, 43, in 1:14:25.

In the women’s division, Kraus was able to get a lead early to hold on to her first victory in the Half Marathon, although she was the women’s winner in the Fleet Feet Sport 5K in 2008 and came in third in last year’s half. It was only her second event since coming back from a stress fracture in her left shin over the winter.

“I wanted to be top 10 because I haven’t been running for very long and I’m just so happy that I’m running without pain,” said Kraus, who’s been back training for about six weeks. “I started up front and there were a couple of girls with me, so I just tried to stay with them.

Second was 28-year-old Carrie Birth of Maineville, OH, the reigning winner of the Heart Mini-Marathon, who finished in a time of 1:25:13, and third was Pig veteran Tara Keller, 35, of Bexley, OH, who was competing in her 10^th Flying Pig Marathon weekend. She finished in a time of 1:26:28.

In the City Dash 4-Person Relay, the Wofford Terriers team won in a time of 2:51:08. Second was Sacred Heart of Fairfield, Ohio, in 2:55:59 and third was Led Feet in 3:09:28. In the women’s relay division, Count Pour Lick Stick won in 3:19:25. Second was Boca Beauties in 3:34:03 and third was Davidson CC Moms in 3:51:00.

The Flying Pig Marathon powered by P&G featured 18,520 in the Sunday events, including 4,879 registered for the full marathon, 10,861 in the Half Marathon and 2,780 in the 4-person relay division. In the Saturday events, 1,996 were registered for the Toyota 10K, 2,535 in the Fleet Feet Sports 5K, 2,269 for the Ernst & Young Kids One Mile and 624 in the Flying Piglet Fun Run.