RUNNING: Lansing's Usher coasts to Bayshore Marathon victory

By JEFF PEEK
Record-Eagle staff writer

TRAVERSE CITY - The Bay Shore Marathon ushered in a new era on Saturday.
Nathan Usher, running in only his second marathon, dominated from start to finish and completed the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 3.45 seconds - more than 16 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.
Usher was alone most of the way on the out-and-back course, which ran along the peninsula on Grand Traverse Bay. In fact, the only time second-place Ken Bader saw Usher was after the leader had made the turn and was heading back toward the finish line at Traverse City Central High School.
Despite his lack of marathon experience, Usher didn't seem at all surprised by the outcome.
"I looked at the seed times before the race and no one was under 2:30," said the 22-year-old Lansing resident, who graduated from Michigan State University last December. "I figured no one would go out with me, so I didn't expect to see anyone."
Usher, whose only previous marathon experience came in the Detroit Marathon last fall, competed in the River Bank Run in Grand Rapids two weeks ago and was encouraged by his time in the 25-kilometer race.
"My conversion calculator put (my marathon time) at about 2:22," Usher said. "I was right on that."
Bader, a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University who ran track and cross country for the Lakers, said that after the start he only saw Usher once.
"At about 12½ miles he was coming back this way while we were going out," Bader said. "I didn't see him again."
That's the way Usher likes it.
"When I get around people I tend to go too fast, so it was probably better for me (that I ran alone)," he said. "I went too fast at Detroit and I was dead with eight miles to go."
Usher finished in 2:33 at Detroit, but he lowered that time considerably in the Bayshore by averaging "5:22 or 5:23" per mile on a gorgeous morning that began with temperatures in the 50s and never got warmer than the mid-60s.
Usher was awarded $1,000 because his time of 2:23:03.45 easily broke the 2:30 barrier, but he fell short of the course record of 2:17.4 set by Jeff Sharp in 1983.
Bader, a first-time marathoner who said he competed in Saturday's race for "grins," finished in 2:39:09.8. He was followed by Luke Williams of Auburn Hills (2:44:10.45), Jason Proctor of Big Rapids (2:44:36.65) and Brad Abendroth of Big Rapids (2:46:26.95).
The women's marathon was slightly more contested than the men's race. Janet Becker of Grand Rapids notched her first marathon victory by completing the course in 2:55:43.3 - setting a personal record but missing a cash bonus by 43 seconds.
The course record of 2:48:41 was set by Wanda Cousineau in 1992.
Becker was followed by Andrea Lubberts of Jenison (2:58:43), Marybeth Reader of West Bloomfield (2:59:14), Lisa Veneziano of West Chester, Ohio (3:04:58.85) and Mary Ann Protz of St. Petersburg, Fla. (3:05:34.8).
"I was scared when I turned around," said Becker, 31, who was running in her seventh marathon. "I knew they were very close."
Becker said she didn't allow herself to entertain thoughts of winning - at least not until the final 300 meters.
"I didn't come here to win; I just came here to run," she said. "I didn't think about it until I hit the track."
Approximately 1,400 runners entered the Bayshore, many in an attempt to secure a qualifying time for the 2006 Boston Marathon next April.