Ellington repeats as Knoxville Marathon winner

Photo by Saul Young // Buy this photo

Stewart Ellington of Knoxville is the first to cross the finish line after completing the full marathon on Sunday. Thousands of people participate in the The 5th Annual Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on Sunday. Runners begin at the World's Fair Park and finish on the 50-yard line of Shields-Watkins Field at Neyland Stadium.

KNOXVILLE — Knoxville's Stewart Ellington and Kathy Wolski braved the wind, cold and a hilly course Sunday morning to win titles in the fifth annual Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.

Ellington, 34, former University of Tennessee All-American, defended his 2008 Knoxville Marathon title, while Wolski, 43, a 1984 graduate of Farragut High School, won the title she came close to claiming last year.

Wolski finished third in last year's Knoxville Marathon — less than two months after giving birth to her daughter, Elizabeth Ann.

'There was some serious pressure to do better than I did last year considering I was just off having a baby,' Wolski said.

Wolski's winning time Sunday was 3 hours, 3 minutes, 20 seconds. Tammy Slusser of Monroeville, Penn., was second in 3:05:47.

Wolski wasn't sure of her place in the standings until after the halfway point of the race. She led the rest of the way.

'I just didn't know because the half-marathoners are in there too,' Wolski said. 'I really didn't know until mile 15 when somebody from the crowd said, ‘You're the first woman.' '

That was good news to Wolski, who wasn't quite at full speed. She had a slight muscle twinge that she believes is the result of her still nursing her child.

'I tried to run real conservative because I have an injury, so I was a little nervous,' Wolksi said.

She wasn't bothered by the cold, but said the gusting wind was difficult — especially for someone her size. Wolski is petite, standing about 5 feet tall.

'Little windy,' she said. 'The race director controls everything he can, but he can't control the weather. Temperatures were good but the wind was a little tough for somebody smaller.'

Ellington led from start to finish — a stark contrast to last year when he overcame a 3-minute deficit at the halfway point.

His winning time Sunday was 2:29:01. His time in the 2008 race was 2:28:35.

Justin Gillette, 26, of Niles, Mich., was second Sunday in 2:36:20. Gillette won the 2007 Knoxville Marathon and was second last year after getting passed by Ellington late in the race.

'I think probably from the gun I ran with the half-marathoners, and I didn't see anybody else the entire second half,' Ellington said. 'I just wanted to go out comfortable and then pick it up; I did that. I thought there would be more company with me.'

Gillette did his best to keep up.

'Early on there was about a 30-second gap,' Gillette said, 'and it just started growing the second half because there's a lot of turns in the race and I lost contact with him when he'd go around a turn, and then (Ellington's lead) just slowly grew and grew and grew. The next thing I knew, he was uncatchable.'

Gillette said he saw Ellington crossing a bridge at about the 20-mile mark while Gillette was under the bridge, and he knew he was about a mile behind the leader.

A couple miles later, Ellington had to fight through a tough spell.

'With two miles to go I started feeling it,' Ellington said, 'but once I got to the last stretch I started feeling better.'

A special six-page section in Monday's News Sentinel.

View photos from the Knoxville Marathon taken by blogger, copy editor and runner, Christian Zavisca.