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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 23, 2003
The St. Petersburg Forerunners female masters entry crushed its opposition in Monday's Boston Marathon, setting a record en route to winning the team competition.
Lisa Valentine of Tierra Verde, Kim Donaldson, St. Petersburg, and Mary Ann Protz, St. Petersburg, logged a combined time of 9 hours, 14 minutes and 18 seconds, beating the Whirlaway Racing Team of Massachusetts -- the defending champion -- by more than 28 minutes.
The Forerunners broke the masters record Whirlaway set in 2002 by about 20 minutes, said Forerunners coach Joe Burgasser.
The Forerunners men's open and masters teams did not crack the top five in their categories. But open competitors Steve Wilcox, James Duncan and Ian Payne finished 1-2-3 among Tampa Bay area men.
Wilcox and Duncan are from St. Petersburg and Payne is from Tierra Verde.
It was the Forerunners' first title in masters competition, which is for athletes at least 40 years old.
The Forerunners had won the women's open title three of the past seven years before the several of the club's faster females edged into the 40-plus bracket.
On Monday, Valentine ran 2:50:42 for the 26 miles, 385 yards. Donaldson, recovering from a flu-like ailment, ran 3:11:43 and Protz logged 3:11:54.
"I dug deeper for this than any other race," said Donaldson, who praised Valentine's effort and credited Protz with helping her get through the final miles.
"I was just plodding along when she came up behind me" at about the 18-mile mark, Donaldson said. "I kind of ran along with her."