TRAVERSE CITY — Katie Berkshire has only run four half marathons.
She’s won three of them.
The 16-year-old, soon-to-be senior at Gaylord claimed back-to-back Festival of Races half marathon titles Saturday, even with conditions much warmer than a year ago.
“It was definitely very hot,” said Berkshire, who hopes to commit to a Division 1 university sometime this year. “Last year, I remember thinking it was a little hot, but this is like 10 times worse. But I really appreciate the people out there with sprinklers. It felt really good. Some just had a hose and were spraying everybody that came by.”
Berkshire ran a 1:27:09.08, winning the race by more than three minutes ahead of 49-year-old Mary Tollett of Georgia, with Midland 52-year-old Maggie Rettelle third and California 40-year-old Marisa Kellogg fourth.
Four locals dotted the top 10, with Manistee’s Denny Capling finishing fifth in 1:36:13.81, Traverse City’s Elizabeth Smits sixth (1:36:17.48) and Traverse City’s Stella Warnes 10th (1:42:02.01).
Berkshire, who placed third in the Division 2 cross country state finals last fall, won in 1:24:52.06 last year, a little over two minutes faster than this year’s effort.
She’s run one half marathon per year since the age of 13, saying she thought it was symbolic to run a 13.1-mile race at that age. She said she’s planning to run the Alpenfest 10k and maybe the AuSable 10k later this summer.
“Shout out to my family and my dad for driving me here,” Berkshire said of her father, Doug. “My dad drove here at 3 a.m. with me, so we had to wake up pretty early. All he does for me, he’s a big reason why I’ve found success in my running career. He’s always been my biggest motivator, and that goes for my whole family and coaches and everyone.”
Some time off did Nathaniel Frasier good.
Frasier, 28, took three years off from running following a career at Saginaw Valley State. He won the men’s half marathon title Saturday in 1:11:13.32 in his first National Cherry Festival race.
“I kept having hip issues,” he said. “But earlier this year, I ran a 5k and now I’m doing this. Hopefully I can stay healthy and do a marathon in a few months.”
Frasier is staying at a cottage on Torch Lake, and won by almost six minutes over Harbor Beach 17-year-old Brody Karg. Buckley resident Philip Spitzer, who has previously won the 15k, 10k and 5k at the Festival of Races, placed third in 1:18:13.46, with Traverse City’s Craig Manning fourth, Kewadin’s Kyle Kiel fifth and Traverse City residents Luke Brothers and Michael Olosky ninth and 10th, respectively.
“It’s a great course,” Frasier said. “Pretty hilly, more than I expected, but the first couple miles are dirt and stuff, so it takes a lot of out of you.”
The half marathon sold out of entries, and 439 participants finished the race. The 5k drew 1,262 racers, the 10k, 392 and the 15k, 202 for a total of 2,293 runners who finished their race.
15k
Aaron Bachman, a 37-year-old Brighton resident, hadn’t run a Cherry Festival race in a decade before coming back to take the 15-kilometer crown in 52:09.04.
“He was cooking,” Traverse City resident and runner-up Jamie Somerville said. “I only saw him at the start and not for long.”
Bachman ran the 15k in 2014 and 5k in 2015, taking second to Traverse City’s Anthony Berry in the ‘15 race.
This time around, Bachman ran a race the day before, placing second Friday in the Hungry Duck 5k in Brighton.
“I wanted to get a good workout and just see how I would feel,” said Bachman, whose parents live in Elk Rapids. “I might do a half marathon in the fall. It was a good way to simulate the fatigue of that. I think it worked.”
He ran a 15:27.6 at the Hungry Duck, 24 seconds behind a 20-year-old, but won his 34-39 age group.
“I was really happy with how yesterday went,” Bachman said. “That helped, because I was in a good mood and I felt like, ‘OK, I’m ready to go again.’ I was definitely a little sore. My quads from from the 5k yesterday, which is also a hilly course, and the 15k here goes up McKinley (Hill) and comes down. Coming down that, my quads were just destroyed. But that’s OK. That’s a good burn, as they say.”
Somerville took second with a 55:27.32 as three more TC residents placed in the top 10 with Ricky Woods fourth, Ben Berger fifth and Aidan Simrau eighth.
Florida State junior runner Ava Povich won the women’s 15k in her fourth time at the Festival of Races, taking home titles in three of those.
She won the 2022 10k, then bumped up to the 15k in 2023, winning the crown that year and placing second last summer.
“I don’t really go all out, because my coach wouldn’t like that,” said Povich, whose family summers in Northport. “Today was supposed to just be a good training run, so I probably went 80% effort instead of all-out racing. I save the big efforts for my school races.”
Coopersville’s Amanda Jones took second, four minutes behind Povich, with Traverse City’s Annie Somerville third in 1:06:04.12.
Traverse City’s Mackenna Burkholder and Lisa Berger were fourth and fifth, respectively, while Allyson Klug of Traverse City placed ninth and Interlochen’s Lisa Dood was 10th.
“I slowed down about 40 seconds going up in and speed up about 40 seconds going down it,” Povich said of McKinley Hill. “So it evens out, but it burns your legs.”
10k
Portage 19-year-old Logan Begeman won the 10k in 32:58.38, three seconds ahead of Ohio 20-year-old Eli Kretchmar. Tim Peterson of Portage took third, while Bellaire 21-year-old Mick Robinson placed eighth.
Florida 14-year-old Mary Cate Summers won the female 10k title in 38:42.2, 23 seconds ahead of Kalamazoo’s Mary England, with Illinois 21-year-old Molly Durrow third. Cadillac 16-year-old Ella McInerney placed seventh, winning the 14-16 age group (Summers was in the open class).
5k
Michael Dennis of St. Johns won the 5k in 15:45.26, 1.12 second ahead of runner-up Nate Carmody of Bath. Jacob Dennis placed third, with Grand Ledge’s Liam Elder fourth and Traverse City’s Robert Lohr fifth in 16:20.06. Lohr, 25, was the only runner over 22 in the top 10.
Midland 19-year-old Katelyn Watkins won the women’s 5k in 18:27.47, 46 seconds ahead of runner-up Trish Black of Champaign, Illinois. Jami Hollandsworth of Williamsburg and Traverse City’s Erica O’Hearn were third and fourth, respectively. Julia Viel of Williamsburg took eighth.