Marathon winner runs to repeat

Kevin Borrelli’s training routine going into Sunday’s 14th annual Steamtown Marathon is essentially the same as last year’s.

Why mess with success?

“The preparation is the same,” Borrelli said. “I was successful last year so I’m following the same routine.

“But the pressure there is more. I’ve gone from a guy running a marathon to a guy with a target on his back running a marathon.”

In just his second career marathon, Borrelli made it through the 26.2-mile course from Forest City to Scranton in a winning time of 2:22:41, 26 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Keith Pierce of Krum, Texas.

Borrelli, 27, has an accomplished running career dating back to a District 2 championship in high school as a junior at Mid Valley and including helping Duquesne University win its first Atlantic-10 Conference championship in any sport. He was 14th out of 23,244 finishers in the Broad Street Run, a 10-mile race through Philadelphia in May. Last month, the Marywood University cross country coach finished 27th in the United States 20K Championships.

Still, there is nothing quite like winning a marathon running through the streets where you live, work and train.

“It is something I relive every time I’m running on the course,” said Borrelli, who put in 100-mile training weeks through June, July and August to prepare for defending his title. “It was a great feeling. It always will be.”

“It was such a great race,” he said. “I didn’t know I had it won until the last quarter-mile.

“I remember going up the hill at Cooper’s with my head down going as fast as I can. I didn’t dare look back.”

The Throop resident beat a field that included the Matt Byrne, the only two-time champion in the event’s history (2004 and 2006). Byrne, a Scranton native now living in Philadelphia, hit the 18-mile mark with Borrelli, a second ahead of Pierce.

As Borrelli gets ready to try to match Byrne’s feat of two titles, beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday at Forest City High School, it is not clear who the strongest threats will be.

Through Tuesday, two days before the entry deadline on the largest field in Steamtown Marathon history, three other runners had joined Borrelli in indicating that they projected runs of better than 2:30. Marathon officials use those projections to help arrange top runners at the starting line.

Jeffrey McCabe of Exeter, Joe McElhoney of Beacon, N.Y. and Mike Smith of Alexandria, Va. were the runners anticipating breaking the 2:30 barrier.

Borrelli is now in his second year as Marywood’s coach. He said the runners who he will coach at the DeSales Invitational in Allentown Saturday also will be providing support for him Sunday.

“They’re pumped he said,” he said. “They’re into it. They’ll be all throughout the course riding bikes from place to place trying to see as much as they can.”

WOMEN’S RACE

Heidi Wolfsberger of Moosic, the 2008 champion, is not entered, but a strong women’s field appears to be shaping up.

Yolanda Mercado, who qualified for the Beijing Olympics for Puerto Rico, is entered along with 2005 champion Megan Duerring and Tammy Slusser, last year’s runner-up.

Duerring will be looking to join Charlene Lyford and Patty Fulton as multiple winners.

Lyford was the women’s champion the first three years, including a record time of 2:44:01 in 1998. Fulton won in 2000 and 2001.

AGE GROUPS

There is prize money for the top men’s and women’s finishers overall and the top men’s and women’s Masters (over 40).

Tony Cerminaro of Jermyn, a former Boston Marathon age group champion, has won his age group every year of the Steamtown Marathon. Now competing in the 70-and-over division, Cerminaro finished in 3:22:10, almost 43 minutes better than the second-place finisher among the 14 over-70 male runners that finished.

“When it first started, I didn’t know if this was going to last,” Cerminaro said of the marathon, “but, it’s going strong now.”

The same could be said of Cerminaro. The 73-year-old spent the week leading up to his fourth marathon of the year by refereeing high school soccer games each night.

The age-group breakdowns are: 24-under, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69 and 70-over.

On the Web

For live coverage and photos from the Steamtown Marathon on Sunday, visit www.scrantonedition.com.