Portalatin finishes second in Millinocket Half-Marathon
MILLINOCKET — A dozen runners from the region headed north on Saturday, Dec. 9 to take part in the second annual Millinocket Half-Marathon and Marathon — the races had no entry fees as participants were instead urged to spend their money in the Katahdin region.
A year after winning the inaugural half-marathon in near zero-degree conditions, Rico Portalatin, 46 of Milo, finished second in the 13.1-mile race. Portalatin’s 2017 time was 1 hour, 19 minutes and 45 seconds, as he came in second among 942 finishers and trailed winner Eric Knickerbocker, 40 of Hampden, by about 2:30. Portalin was over seven minutes faster than in 2016 when he finished in 1:27.06.
Andrew Bermudez, 39 of Dexter, finished 124th in the Millinocket Half-Marathon with a time of 1:45.50. Bermudez also ran the race for the second year in a row, besting his 2016 performance by about two minutes.
John Lemieux, 72 of Sangerville, placed 256th overall in 1:57.57. Lemieux had the day’s best time among male runners in the 70-plus age division.
Coming in 336th was Kathleen Dixon-Wallace, 51 of Milo, in 2:01.06.
Peter Devine, 68 of Garland, ran the half-marathon for the second time. This year he placed 459th at 2:11.16, for an improvement of more than nine minutes.
Very soon after Devine’s finish was training partner Gary Larson, 72 of Dover-Foxcroft. Larson came in 463rd at 2:11.21 to finish second among men’s runners 70-plus, behind only training partner Lemieux. In 2017 Larson was more than 15 minutes faster than when he ran in the inaugural Millinocket Half-Marathon.
Placing 564th was Brenda Kain, 44 of Abbot, at 2:19.29.
A time of 2:35.49 put John Firth, 52 of Sangerville, in 696th place.
Judy Snow, 63 of Dover-Foxcroft, ran the half-marathon for a second time, coming in 743rd at 2:44.29.
Lucille Johnson, 65 of Greenville, was 861st in 3:24.39.
Scott Arno, 53 of Dover-Foxcroft, came in 928th in the half-marathon at 4:08.32.
In the Millinocket Marathon, Cassady Regan, 36 of Dexter, covered the 26.2 miles in a time of 5:05.45. Regan finished 183rd among a field of 213 runners.
Full race results are at http://www.3craceproductions.com/results.php.
Photo courtesy of Designlab
RUNNING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN — Mount Katahdin looms over runners at the second annual Millinocket Marathon and Half-Marathon on Dec. 9. The event drew an estimated 4,000 participants and spectators who came to run along the Golden Road. Milo resident Rico Portalatin finished second in the half-marathon with a time of 1:19.45, a year after he won the inaugural 13.1 mile race.