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FARGO — Brendan Sage and Rachel King won the Fargo Half Marathon on Saturday morning.
Sage, 26, from St. Michael, Minnesota, clocked in at 1 hours, 7 minutes and 6 seconds to finish first overall.
King, 25, also from St. Michael, finished 17th overall and was the women's division champion in 1:20:11.
At first glance, both half marathon winners hailing from the same hometown may seem like a coincidence.
However, Sage and King know one another. In fact, they're engaged and soon-to-be married.
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King said it was the second time she and her fiancé have won the same race together.
"He was training me for a little bit up to this point," King said of running the half marathon together. "In 2019, in the fall, we ran the Sioux Falls 10K together and we both won. So this is our second time both winning."
Sage ran the Fargo Half Marathon in 2019, as well. He won the race that year and set his personal best at the time.
"I ran this the last time it was held in person (in the spring), and I had my PR here," he said. "So it was a really good time."
Saturday's victory came as a bit of a surprise for Sage, as the result was looking like a long shot halfway through the 13.1-mile course.
"It's pretty awesome because I didn't think I was going to win halfway through the race," he said. "I stuck with the first place guy until about three miles to go, and then I just did what I could to push whatever I had left."
Sage also said he had more time to train this time around as opposed to the 2019 event.
"It feels like more of an accomplishment," he said. "I don't think I got the necessary training in when I did it last time."
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Being her first half marathon, King said she was thrilled just to make it to the finish line, let alone win.
"It was a really tough last three miles, so to be able to get to the finish honestly was so surreal," she said.
King said there was only one point during the race where she and Sage knew how one another was doing.
"There was one out-and-back point where we went over and high-fived each other as we were passing," she said. "Every race, there's always some kind of turnaround point where we get to see each other, so it was fun."
Connor Reck, 28, of Minneapolis finished second overall in the half marathon in 1:07:16, just 10 seconds behind Sage. Hawley, Minnesota's Daniel Borash, 28, finished third overall in 1:11:33 to round out the podium.
Finishing behind King in second place among women was Fargo's Maddie Van Beek. The 30-year-old finished in 1:20:35, just 24 seconds behind King and good enough for 20th overall.
Columbus, Ohio's Amy Haas completed the women's podium in 1:23:35. The 28-year-old finished 23rd overall.
King said running has bonded herself and Sage together for several years now, and the couple has no plans to stop any time soon.
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"It's pretty special," she said. "We went to college together and we've been doing this a long time. That's what makes our relationship so great, is that we can do this until the end of time. You can run forever."
