NDN Half Marathon: Naples natives Roeser, Fluehr tune up for Olympic Trials; Dykes misses mark
Kurt Roeser might have grown up in Naples, but after years in Colorado he’s not used to the Florida heat and humidity anymore.
Roeser, 32, finished seventh overall Sunday at the Naples Daily News Half Marathon. Top 10 is great, he said, but he could have gone faster than his time of 1 hour, 9 minutes, 29.2 seconds.
“Coming from Colorado, we’re not used to that humidity,” Roeser said. “It was a little warm. I got overheated. I suffered a little bit in the last mile.”
Roeser graduated from Naples High School in 2005 before running for two years at the University of Florida. Since then he’s been in Boulder, Colorado, working as a physical therapist.
“You go from running in 20 degrees in the mornings out there to this,” Roeser said. “It’s a bit of a shock.”
Running in his hometown was a tune-up for perhaps the biggest race of his career coming up. In about five weeks Roeser will be in Atlanta to participate in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials for the first time on Feb. 29.
More:2020 NDN Half Marathon: Nathan Martin gets past defending champ McCandless to win
Roeser qualified for the trials in December in his very first marathon. He completed the California International Marathon in Sacramento in 2:32.55.
“It’s really exciting,” Roeser said. “It’s a big accomplishment for me. Honestly, I never thought I’d be able to run a marathon that fast. That shows the consistency I’ve had in training with my coach, Steve Jones, and my teammates with the Boulder Harriers (running club).”
Fluehr heads to Trials
Erika Fluehr shares similarities with Roeser – a former high school running star in Naples who ran Division I and now is taking a shot at the Olympics.
Fluehr, a 2011 graduate of Community School, finished eighth in the women’s race Sunday in 1:18:3.04. The 26-year-old also used her hometown half marathon as a tune-up for the Olympic Trials – which, like Roeser, she qualified for in her very first marathon.
Now working for a software company in New York City, Fluehr earned a qualifying time for the Trials at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November.
“I’m excited,” Fluehr said of her upcoming trip to the Trials. “I want to enjoy it. It’s my first time going. It’s going to be a great experience.”
In high school Fluehr ran stride for stride with her twin sister, Kathryn. Kathryn Fluehr won an individual state title in cross country in 2009, while Erika won the individual title in 2010. They both led Community School to a team state championship in 2008.
On Sunday, Erika ran alone. Kathryn broke her foot in training and hasn’t resumed running yet.
No Olympic hopefuls
Sunday was the last chance for the elite runners in the field to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. The Trials are Feb. 29 in Atlanta.
The Naples course is certified by USA Track and Field, so anyone achieving a qualifying time would be eligible for the Trials. The cut was 1:04:00 for me and 1:13:00 for women.
Only two runners, both men, hit the mark. Overall winner Nathan Martin, 30, of Jackson, Michigan, and runner-up Tyler McCandless, 33, of Boulder, Colorado, finished in less than 1:04:00. However, both men already had qualified for the Trials before coming to Naples.
The women’s winner, Kaitlin Goodman, 32, of Providence, Rhode Island, finished in 1:13:51.59. She also already had qualified.
Dykes misses the mark – barely
Gene Dykes, a 71-year-old from Philadelphia, came to Naples for the first time Sunday looking to break records. Specifically, he wanted to best his own American record for fastest marathon by a runner 70 years or older.
Dykes finished the 13.1-mile race in 1:25:10, five seconds shy of breaking the record he set in 2018.
“If I’d have known (I was that close) I would have gone for it, but I didn’t want to throw up all over everyone when I finished,” Dykes said with a smile.
For the second year in a row part-time Bonita Springs resident Jeannie Rice missed out on breaking the women’s 70-and-over half-marathon record. Like Dykes, she owns the record herself, but it’s a world record. She set the mark at the Akron (Ohio) Half Marathon in August, finishing in 1:37:07.
Rice hoped to break the record last year, her first time in Naples as a 70-year-old. She’s run in Naples many times and considers it one of her favorite races.
On Sunday she finished in 1:39:11. Like last year, the humidity got to Rice. The temperature hit 71 degrees by the end of the race, which is warm for distance runners.
“I’m very disappointed,” Rice said. “Once the sun came up, I knew it wasn’t going to be my day.”
Top local
Naples resident Aubrey Aldy, 39, was the top local finisher at Sunday’s race. Aldy finished 18th overall in 1:15:11.28.
Though his time wasn’t a personal record, Aldy was happy because he said he hadn’t trained much for the half marathon. Instead he’s training for a much longer race.
In March, Aldy will compete in the Georgia Death Race in Blairsville. It’s a 74-mile run that goes up 15,000 feet of elevation through the Georgia mountains. The fastest runners need 12 hours to finish.
“I’m getting a little bit older and I’ve done so many kinds of races,” Aldy said. “I want to try new stuff. I’m intrigued by mountain and trail races, so I thought I’d give this one a shot.”
Aldy likes to test himself. In December he ran in the Caloosahatchee Ultra 50K in Alva, winning and setting the record for the 31.1-mile course.
Tank doesn't tank
There was another first-time participant in the field featuring over 1,700 runners. Southwest Florida Christian junior standout Ethan Tank ran the half-marathon for the first time and clocked in with a 1:22.15.
After Tank crossed the stripe and cooled off, his father was there to greet him.
“You killed it out there, son,” Tank’s father said as the two hugged one another.
Tank’s goal was to run a 1:25.00 or under, and he eclipsed that mark by over two minutes and 45 seconds.
“My first half-marathon was in December 2018 I think,” Tank said. “I had ambitious goals and ran 1:27.00s. Today I came in thinking 1:25.00 was ambitious because I just started running again in mid-December. I started out at a conservative pace and realized I was clicking off 6:15s. I thought I should slow down but just hang with it in case I have more than I think I do. I just held on for the rest of the race.”
Tank had no complaints when running the course. On the 13.1-mile course, runners got to run past many high-end neighborhoods south of 5th Avenue.
“I loved the course,” Tank added. “It was really flat. All the turns were wide, and no sharp turns. I really loved it.”
Aside from running his fastest half-marathon Sunday, Tank looked long term and hopes to use this race and many others to improve his endurance as he enters his final cross country season in August.
“This is going to help my endurance,” Tank stated. “I know that I usually don’t do runs more than 11 miles, so running a race like this gives me a chance to run a further distance and gives me a chance to feel the different kind of pain in it. It’s going to help me keep my endurance especially around the track and for my last cross country season (next fall).”
Follow Naples Daily Sports Writers Adam Fisher and Alex Martin on Twitter: @NDN_Adam and @NP_AlexMartin. For additional coverage of FGCU, FSW, Everblades, and high school sports across Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.