On the same Sunday morning in Wisconsin, a 12 year old was attempting his first marathon while two women aged 95 and 103 were beginning their first half marathon.
Their distances and circumstances were very different, but all three journeys ended at Riverside Park in Neenah during the Community First Fox Cities Marathon on Sunday September 20th.
Urban Wilhelms, 12, completed the full 26.2 miles in five hours and 54 minutes alongside his mother, Ashley. On the half marathon course, Germaine Smith, 103, and Mabel, 95, took part as Captains with myTEAM TRIUMPH, supported around the route in specialised racing chairs by a team of five runners.
Germaine then stood from her chair and walked the final section to the finish. Mabel crossed the line in her chair with the team beside her.
Between the youngest and oldest of the three was a gap of 91 years, producing an unusual collection of first time finishes at the same event.
A First Half Marathon at 103
Germaine and Mabel are residents of St Paul Elder Services in Kaukauna. Their participation was organised through myTEAM TRIUMPH Wisconsin, a programme that helps people with disabilities take part in running and endurance events.
Participants known as Captains travel in specialised chairs, while volunteer runners known as Angels guide and support them throughout the course. The aim is not simply to transport somebody from the start to the finish. Captains sit at the centre of the race day experience.
Germaine and Mabel were accompanied through the Fox Cities by Danny, Natalie, Ali, Rachel and Aaron. Both were taking part in a half marathon for the first time.
The group completed the course together, with Germaine's entry credited with a time of 2:04:40. As the finish approached, she left her chair and covered the final stretch on foot while spectators cheered her towards the line.
The distinction is important. Germaine did not run the entire 13.1 miles. Her achievement was completing the event as part of an assisted team before walking the closing section herself. Mabel remained in her chair as the group finished together.
It was an example of how a mass participation race can include people whose age or physical circumstances would ordinarily keep them away from the start line.
A Family Mark Falls at 12
Further back on the full marathon course, Urban Wilhelms was working towards a very different target.
His father, Anthony, completed the Fox Cities Marathon at the age of 14. Urban decided that he wanted to complete the same race two years younger and asked his mother, Ashley, to take on the challenge with him.
The pair spent the summer gradually extending their runs. Urban already had a fitness base from football, but preparing for 26.2 miles required a steady increase in distance. Their training eventually reached 20 miles, followed by the Green Lake Half Marathon during the final weeks before race day.
Urban and Ashley stayed together for the entire marathon. The opening 14 miles proved particularly difficult, but support arrived later when some of Urban's football teammates joined them along the route.
They reached the finish in five hours and 54 minutes, giving Urban his first marathon and the family a new youngest finisher.
Different Journeys to the Same Finish
The Fox Cities Marathon was marking its 35th anniversary, with more than 2,500 people participating across the weekend programme.
There were quicker times and more conventional performances, but few results attracted as much attention as those belonging to Urban, Germaine and Mabel.
Urban covered every step of the marathon under his own power. Germaine and Mabel completed the half marathon with the assistance of their Angels. Their achievements were not identical and should not be presented as such.
What connected them was the decision to take on something new at an age when few people would expect it. One wanted to beat a family mark before reaching his teenage years. Two others wanted to experience their first half marathon more than nine decades after childhood.
At one finish line in Wisconsin, a 12 year old, a 95 year old and a 103 year old all became first time finishers on the same morning.
Image: St. Paul Elder Services, Inc.
