Who won the Little Rock Marathon?

Participants in the 20th Little Rock Marathon take off from the starting line Sunday morning on La Harpe Blvd. in downtown Little Rock. See more photos at arkansasonline.com/22mara/..(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)

The 20th running of the Little Rock Marathon produced a race and a rout.

Winners of the men's and women's divisions had lopsided leads in place, but Cameron Beckett, 31, of Cammack Village, said he wondered late about runners behind him before he crossed the finish line first on the northern edge of downtown Little Rock in 2 hours, 40 minutes, 27 seconds on Sunday.

"I definitely didn't have a comfortable lead," Beckett said. "I kind of fell apart there late. The second guy really gained a lot on me. He ran a great race."

Elizabeth Dollas, 45, of Amesbury, Mass., increased her lead throughout to win the women's race by nearly 24 minutes in 3:02:46.

Dollas was pleased by her win, but it came as part of her effort to run marathons in each U.S. state, a more meaningful target for her. Dollas reached 27 in Little Rock. She said first-place finishes come for her when elite runners fail to enter.

"When they invite actual elite runners, like at Boston, I don't win," said Dollas, an eighth-grade math teacher with a thought common to all but the best of competitive runners.

The physiological demands of a 26-mile, 385-yard footrace collected their toll over the final few miles from Beckett. He ran out of sight from his pursuit early and led by more than three minutes through the half marathon near Central High School, but he felt enough pressure from Nathan O'Conner, 21 of Porter, Ind., to wonder whether he would maintain his position.

Beckett did, and O'Conner finished second in 2:42:01. Nick Inniger, 39 of Rogers, was third in 2:53:56.

Georgia Bromberg, 33 of Birmingham, Ala., finished second behind Dollas in 3:26:41. Whereas the women's win was by a wide margin, Bromberg passed third-place Cheryl Allen, 47 of Wellman, Iowa, within sight of the finish. Allen finished in 3:26:52.


 Gallery: 2022 Little Rock Marathon







































Each of the more than 1,000 entrants was burdened by unseasonably warm weather. Light rain intermittently fell throughout the race, and it likely served to help curb the effect of temperatures that ranged from 70 to 74 degrees from start to finish for the top finishers.

Severe weather has hampered runners in Little Rock Marathons past, so complaints were limited.

"I'm just glad we didn't have lightning," Inniger said.

Beckett, a high school teacher and coach at Little Rock Christian, and Dollas took their leads within the first 2 miles of the start. Neither experienced competitive packs of runners but rather broke contact early as the field spread on the winding route past thousands of spectators and race volunteers through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock and nearby neighborhoods.

After they ran past Central High, runners turned east on Daisy Bates Boulevard, and crossed the halfway point, approximately 13.1 miles from the finish. Beckett ran the first half in 1:15:58. O'Conner ran second in 1:19:14. Inniger went through third in 1:19:30.

Inniger trailed by a much larger margin at the finish.

"The course gets quite a bit tougher," said Inniger, a financial planner for a cosmetics company. "I felt like I was a little more prepared for it, but I guess I didn't train quite as well as I thought I had. It was a little bit warm out, but I hate to use that as an excuse."

Dollas ran through the half-marathon in 1:29:29. Allen was in fourth at 1:38:56. Bromberg went through in fifth at 1:39:57.

Dollas said her only true concern came in the 16th mile as she approached Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood near Mount St. Mary High along Kavanaugh Boulevard, shortly before a long downhill run through Alsopp Park.

"Coming down the hill, I fueled up again, and I was feeling pretty good, but probably about the last 2 miles or so, I was like, 'All right, I'm ready to be done,' " Dollas said.

Beckett said doubts began to creep in with about 3 miles left after the course's turnaround in Rebsamen Park.

O'Conner, a steel mill employee, said he only briefly considered an unlikely attempt to catch Beckett. As a qualifier for the 2022 Boston Marathon, scheduled for April 18, he said such an effort might limit his performance in the United States' most celebrated race.

"At about miles 20 to 23, I could see him coming toward me," O'Conner said. "I generally knew where I was relative to him, but I'm kind of trying to save myself."

Beckett and Dollas completed their wire-to-wire wins hours before severe weather threatened significant sections of Arkansas.

"As I got towards the Dillard's area [25 miles into the race], I really started to fall apart and had to take a break at one of the aid stations just to kind of regroup," Beckett said. "That was the moment I looked back, and I did see him coming. Really, I didn't feel the pressure until the last couple of miles, but that's a fun way to end a race, right?"


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Who won the Little Rock Marathon?

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How many people ran Little Rock Marathon?

With an estimated $6 million in local spending annually, more than 270,442 individuals have participated in a Little Rock Marathon race, event, or free training program.

What marathon has the biggest medal?

The Little Rock Marathon is famous for the world's largest finisher's medal (According to Runners World). Race organizers insist the medals get slightly bigger each year.

When was the Little Rock Marathon?

MARCH 4-5, 2023 A race with personality, loads of southern hospitality, tons of caring volunteers, a running or walking tour through the scenic streets of Arkansas' capital city and an impressive finisher's medal.

Is Little Rock Marathon hilly?

The Little Rock Marathon and companion races are a running and walking tour of Arkansas' capitol city. When asked if there are hills in Little Rock, we love to affectionately say “What Hills? It depends on your perspective.” There are some bumps in the road, but life is full of bumps in the road.