Navy veteran Jay McManus leaves as the winner of the Marine Corps Marathon push-rim race Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
ARLINGTON, Va. — Navy veteran Jay McManus leaves Sunday as the winner of the Marine Corps Marathon push-rim race.
In addition to winning with a time of 1:42:41, McManus accomplished his personal goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
“I was shooting [for] between an hour 35 [minutes] and an hour 45 [minutes]. Anything under two would qualify,” he said. “I pushed a little hard.”
McManus, 48, served in the Navy for nearly 22 years before medically retiring.
He was one of approximately 30,000 participants in the race.
The marathon began near Arlington Cemetery, and runners made their way over the Key Bridge into Georgetown and passed scenic spots along the National Mall and Tidal Basin in Washington.
McManus’ career and life took a turn in July 2010 after an accident in Panama City Beach, Fla. Eight months after leaving Afghanistan, he was on a trip with the Navy Experimental Diving Unit when he was stung in the left knee by a stingray. A barb from the stingray was undetected by the initial X-rays and remained in his knee for four months.
McManus had six surgeries, forcing him to medically retire in 2019. He ran the Marine Corps Marathon for the first time last year after training for three years, completing it in about 3 hours and 34 minutes.
“This year, compared to last year, really helped me kind of set my times and pacing so that I would have enough energy on this last hill,” he said. “That last hill is so hard. It takes a Marine’s ideology to set that hill that is the finish line.”
Rome Leykin, 37, of Stamford, Conn., was in good spirits after finishing the race in 1:45:34, which he said was a personal best. He and McManus spoke to one another after Leykin crossed the finish line.
Both acknowledged they traded places for most of the race. Leykin said that changed at the last hill.
“Once we hit that last hill I was going down, he was zoom,” Leykin said, emphasizing the speed McManus was going. “I was not catching up.”
Julius Kogo crosses the finish line as the winner of the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. Kogo was timed in 2:25:56 on a cloudy, warm day. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Julius Kogo, 38, of Durham, N.C., won the men’s race with a race time of 2:25:56.
Navy Lt. Commander Patrick Hearn came within striking distance with a record of 2:26:18 for second place. Despite his legs being worn out afterward, he felt good about the race.
“I was probably running in seventh for the majority of the race,” said Hearn, a nuclear engineer duty officer at the Pearl Harbor shipyard in Hawaii. “It’s a lot easier mentally knowing you have people in front of you to pass and you have all of this energy.”
He said because of the coronavirus pandemic, he probably hasn’t taken a race seriously since 2019. He ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2018 with a time of 2 hours and 23 minutes.
“It was a lot cooler then. It’s a little warm now,” Hearn said.
Bonnie Keating crosses the finish line as the winner of the women’s competition in the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. Keating finished in 2:50:49. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
In the women’s race, Bonnie Keating, 38, won with a race time of of 2:50:49 after finishing third last year.
“It was really cool to see the Marines out there cheering you on,” said Keating, a strength and conditioning coach for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. “I saw a lot of Marines from 10 years ago, so it was really amazing to see them out there.”
Calum Neff holds aloft the finish tape after winning the Marine Corps Marathon 50k race Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. Neff was timed in 2:55:57. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Competitors in the 48th Marine Corps Marathon had an outstanding view of the nation’s capital as they headed to the starting line Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
The start of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlingon, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Wheelchair and hand-crank competitors start the 48th Marine Corps Marathon, on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Geese fly over the Potomac River near the 10-mile mark of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
The Marine Base Quantico Band plays as an athlete rolls past near the 10-mile mark of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
The start of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
The start of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
The start of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Jay McManus, foreground, and other wheelchair and hand-crank competitors await the start of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
The start of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Wheelchair and hand-crank competitors start the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Action near the 10-mile mark of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner relaxes as friends and family members of competitors wait outside the fence after the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Action near the 10-mile mark of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Spectators carry Ukrainian flags near the finish of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner is assisted at the finish line of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
At the finish line of the 10k race at the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner is assisted at the finish line of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner receives a medal after finishing the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner poses in front of the Marine Corps War Memorial after finishing the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner is assisted at the finish line of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner talks to his biggest fan on the other side of the fence after the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A Marine brings refreshments to thirsty runners at the finish line of the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A runner receives a medal after finishing the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Women’s champion Bonnie Keating receives her medal after winning the 48th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Julius Kogo holds the finish tape after winning the 48th Marine Corps Marathon, Sunday on Oct. 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
