PORT ANGELES — The top male and female runners are beyond their prime and neither expected to win the 2010 North Olympic Discovery Marathon on Sunday.
For each, it was their second marathon victory and 16th race overall.
This was also the first time either of them had participated in the Sequim-to-Port Angeles race and they both blew away the field.
A little spooky, but that’s where the similarities between the two end.
Canadian Anthony Skuce, 46, blew away the men’s field in 2 hours, 37 minutes, finishing at least 19 minutes ahead of the men’s runner-up even though this was his first marathon in two years.
“I have been battling injuries for the past two years,” the Vancouver resident said.
And in the women’s competition, 53-year-old Regina Joyce of Lynnwood took over that race at the 22-mile mark and never looked back, coming in alone at 3 hours, 23 minutes.
This was her first win since she was 25 years old when she was competing in her first marathon.
Last won in 2006
Skuce, meanwhile, captured his only other marathon victory at Toronto in 2006, but soon after that the injuries began piling on.
He began training again about six months ago for the North Olympic Discovery Marathon.
“I decided to get back into the groove,” he said.
Skuce came from behind to win at Toronto.
“This race was a lot different than my win in Toronto,” Skuce said. “I didn’t lead until the last 200 meters in Toronto, but here I led most of the way.
“It’s tougher when you are running alone. There is nobody to challenge you.”
Skuce had a running mate for the first mile but took off because the pace was so slow.
“I thought the pace was a bit slow, a 7-minute pace, and so I took off and I tried to cruise after that.”
The marathon course gets a thumbs-up from Skuce.
“It is gorgeous and a challenging course,” he said.
Skuce said he especially liked the first 12 to 14 miles of the course.
“It gets challenging at about 20 miles with a steep downhill,” he said.
What now after his second lifetime win?
“I will probably set my sights on the Boston Marathon since I qualified for it in this race,” Skuce said.
The runner probably ran fast because he was on a tight schedule.
He crossed the finish line at about 11:37 a.m., thanked the race officials and then headed to the ferry with his family for the 12:15 p.m. sailing to Victoria.
Joyce, meanwhile, didn’t mind sticking around for awhile after winning the women’s race.
Takes over at 22 miles
Joyce, born in England but an American citizen — living in the states for 30 years — had no clue that she was going to win the eighth annual North Olympic Discovery Marathon.
“I was using this more as a training run,” she said at the finish line.
“But I was going to evaluate how I felt at the end of 21 miles,” Joyce said. “And then decide if I was going to push it.”
At the 21-mile mark she was feeling dandy. So, push it, she did.
She breezed by the leader at 22 miles and began putting distance between herself and the second-placer.
The grueling race got a little easier for Joyce as she began running among the walkers.
” ‘Here comes the first woman marathoner,’ they were saying as I passed them. That really motivated me,” she said.
The only other time she won was in December 1982 in her first marathon in Scottsdale, Ariz.
She would have never guessed at that time that her next win would come 28 years later.
This wasn’t Joyce’s first time on the North Olympic Peninsula but it was the first time she ran in the marathon on the Peninsula.
“I came here once before to visit the little village with my namesake,” Joyce said.
The Lynnwood runner next will compete in the Missoula, Mont. marathon July 11 and run in at least one more by Aug. 15 to remain a member in good standing of the Marathon Maniacs, a group of runners who compete in multiple marathons every year.
Joyce said she enjoyed running the Sequim-to-Port Angeles course.
“It has beautiful trails, which is just what I want in a marathon,” she said. “And it is very challenging with steep uphills and downhills.”
Other races
An area runner claimed first place in the half-marathon men’s race.
Port Townsend’s Craig Isenberg breezed to first in 1:21.29.6.
Seattle’s Tina Gall was first in the women’s half-marathon in 1:34.40.4.
Two other races on the cool and rainy day included the Olympic Medical Center’s 10-kilometer and 5K races.
Colby Wait of Port Angeles won the 10K men’s race in 42 minutes, 39.2 seconds, winning by 3 minutes.
Fellow Port Angeles runner Andrew Pryne took third in 46:46.9.
Seattle’s Paula Steinhauser captured the women’s race in 45:44.1.
Sequim’s Dylan Chatters was first in the men’s 5K competition in 20:40.7, beating the runner-up by 2 minutes.
Marybeth Bray of Port Orchard was first in the women’s 5K in 24:13.6 while Maggie Smith of Port Angeles took second in 25:02.7.