Missouri woman wins women's marathon title

By Jeff Kolpack

May 16, 2008 at 11:00 PM

FARGO -- Andrea McGehee broke the tape at the Fargodome finish line, reached down and grabbed it for good reason: it's a keepsake.

"I've never broken a tape," she said.

McGehee broke away in the final six miles to take the women's division title Saturday in the Fargo Marathon. At 39 years old, she's just hitting her stride.

The Lee's Summit, Mo., resident just picked up the sport about 10 years ago, something to do to get in shape after giving birth to her second child. The Fargo was her fourth marathon victory, but the biggest. Her time of 3 hours, 8 minutes had yet to be confirmed.

She won two Heart of America marathons in Columbia, Mo., and one in Olathe, Kan. A late entrant, she arrived in Fargo about 11:30 Friday night, got a few hours of sleep and then proceeded to feel unexpectedly good for 26.2 miles.

She just ran the Boston Marathon last month.

"I didn't think my legs would be there," she said, saying thousands of fans gave her a lift. "But the crowd was so unexpected. Coming off Boston, you think it would be kind of a letdown but this was fantastic."

For more on this story, see tomorrow's Forum.

By Jeff Kolpack

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he's covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: "Horns Up," "North Dakota Tough" and "Covid Kids." He is the radio host of "The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack" April through August.

Missouri woman wins women's marathon title

FARGO -- Andrea McGehee broke the tape at the Fargodome finish line, reached down and grabbed it for good reason: it's a keepsake. "I've never broken a tape," she said. McGehee broke away in the final six miles to take the women's division title ...