Todd Leutzinger, Elaine Sheikh winners of 2025 Starved Rock Country Marathon

OTTAWA – The 2025 Starved Rock Country Marathon and Half-Marathon was run Saturday, beginning and ending in downtown Ottawa.

Todd Leutzinger for the men and Elaine Sheikh for the women were the top overall finishers of the 26.2-mile main event.

Leutzinger was the first to cross the finish line and only entrant to finish the full marathon in under three hours, winning in 2 hours, 45 minutes, 27.7 seconds. Sheikh was the next to come in with her run of 3:19.26.9.

Rounding out the top 10 male finishers were: second-place Chris Allen (3:29:05.1), Randall Shaw (3:30:54.8), Brandon Rittenour (3:32:29.8), fifth-place Jonathan Bailey (3:38:18.1), Justin Swartz (3:40:32.6), John Beatty (3:45:01.9), Kyle Novak (3:48:01.0), Eric Zweep (3:48:41.3) and 10th-place Brian Schuster (3:49:59.6).

The women’s top 10 behind Sheikh included women’s runner-up Julia Adams (3:22:48.2), Haylie Lading (3:36:38.1), Lauren Kiley (3:37:12.3), fifth-place Hailey Krzyston (3:52:30.5), Megan Lumbrezer (3:56:14.0), Abby Bokus (4:03:19.6), Tasha Dunaway (4:09:12.6), Angie McQueen (4:14:22.2) and 10th-place Krista Casper (4:16:57.5).

The Starved Rock Country Half-Marathon was won by Regan Shipp of Deer Grove in 1 hour, 24 minutes, 28.1 seconds, with top male finisher Jason Bauer the next to cross the finish line in 1:27:46.0.

Locals in the Top 30 of the 13.1-mile race in the half-marathon’s results included: from Ottawa – Sean Manley (fourth overall), Kim Foster (fifth), Don Kiesig Jr. (22nd), Daniel Heaver (29th); from Peru – Jim Schaefer (11th); from Marseilles – Heather Aleman (12th); from Spring Valley – Brett Herrmann (23rd); and from Walnut – Nataleigh Nugent (27th).

The Run Starved Rock Country 5K had a local winner, with Ottawan Lucas Farabaugh (20:08.9) finishing first ahead of runner-up Chad Kovash (20:58.7), of Marseilles, and Juan Leg (21:52.6), of Oglesby. Chicagoan Caitlin Lair (22:08.9) was the top female finisher ahead of women’s runner-up Abby Vladika (23:01.0), of Princeton, and third-place Streatorite Chloe Baker (23:52.5).

Aside from one year completely off (2020) and another without the full 26.2-mile race (2021) due to efforts to contain the novel conronavirus pandemic, the Starved Rock Country Marathon has been run annually since 2014.