SPRINGFIELD - It is not every day, runners complete training runs and dominate half marathons (13.1-mile races) but that happened recently when Springfield’s Tyler Pence, 28, and Savannah Brannan, 23, an Edwardsville High School/University of Illinois-Springfield grad, won the overall men and women Annual Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon events.
Tyler, is highly ranked in the upcoming Boston Marathon set for Monday, April 18, and Savannah is also going to run her first race in Boston on the same day. Tyler is the head men’s and women’s cross country coach at UIS and Savannah is a first-year medical school student at SIU in Springfield. Tyler has assisted Savannah with her 26.2-mile Boston Marathon training plan.
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Tyler blazed through the Lincoln Half-Marathon course in a time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 56 seconds, and Savannah won in 1 hour, 27 minutes, and 42 seconds and placed 16th overall for men and women. Tyler saw the race as a great tuneup for the Boston Marathon and he said he wanted to have the challenge of hills that weekend.
Savannah said she was very excited to take first in the female division. Tyler and Savannah both commended the excellent job done with the race by co-race directors Brookelyn Eazelle and Randi Lucas.
"The course was flat and then really hilly miles through 11 to 12," she said. "I loved the race. It was a very cool route and a great race. The directors and volunteers did such an excellent job with it."
Now on Monday, April 18, both Tyler and Savannah will line up at the start of the Boston Marathon, one of the most treasured running races in the world each year.
If you are competing in the Boston Marathon, please send Riverbender.com your e-mail, phone number, and photo, and also e-mail dbrannan@riverbender.com your results after the race so they can be published.
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