COLUMBIA, S.C. - Christine Clark of Anchorage, Alaska, won the 2000 U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon, crossing the finish line in 2:33:31 and winning a berth to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
Three Olympic berths were on the line, but Clark, 37, was the only finisher who met the Olympic qualifying-standard of 2:33. She won $35,000 in the process.
"It's indescribable. I never thought I'd be here," Clark said. "The last six miles were tough, but if a gal from Alaska can do it in this heat, anyone can do it. I stayed focused on what I needed to do."
A pathologist and mother of two, Clark's best marathon prior to Saturday was a 2:40:38 at the Twin Cities Marathon in 1999. She came into this race as the 22nd fastest qualifier and she placed 76th in the U.S. Trials in 1996. In 1995, she won the Seattle Marathon and the Midnight Sun Marathon. "I never thought I'd run this fast," Clark said after the U.S. Trials. "The crowd was unbelievable the whole way. I'm in shock."
The second place-finisher was Kristy Johnston of Shepherdstown, W.Va., who clocked 2:35:36 3 and Anne Marie Lauck of Hampton, NJ, was third in 2:36:05. Johnston pocketed $30,000 and Lauck, who was the race leader for much of the way, took home $25,000.
The first mile was completed in 5:46 with Sharon Stubler leading the pack of Anne Marie Lauck, Kim Pawelek and Joan Samuelson close behind. At the three-mile mark, Lauck took a slight lead at the three-mile mark, which she increased to 100 meters over Pawlek who was in second, by the end of the sixth mile.
At this point, the sun was shining and the temperature had increased to 72 degrees. The race conditions got even tougher around the eight-mile mark as the runners hit an uphill section of the course and the pace began to slow down.
Lauck held on to lead and at the 11-mile mark, she was 29 seconds ahead of Pawelek and 62 seconds ahead of the pack. At the halfway mark (1:15:30), Lauck's lead over Pawelek was 42 seconds, and she was over a minute ahead of the pack.
At the 15-mile mark, Pawelek began fading and was passed by Clark near the 16-mile mark. Just past the 17th mile, Lauck, beginning to show signs of tiring, had a 20-second lead over Clark and the rest of the pack.
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