Erichsen blows away competition for Fargo Marathon men's victory

Chris Erichsen heads north along 5th Street South as the competition can only watch him run past Saturday during the Fargo Marathon. David Samson/The Forum

By Jeff Kolpack

May 22, 2010 at 11:00 PM

Looking strong, fluid and powerful, Chris Erichsen navigated the streets of Fargo-Moorhead on Saturday morning like he knew every concrete crack. It was a dominating performance.

The St. Paul resident won the Fargo Marathon men's division in a record 2 hours, 19 minutes, 55 seconds, dusting his nearest competition at around the halfway point. Runner-up Hilary Cheruiyot, a native Kenyan who trains in Coon Rapids, Minn., finished nearly six minutes behind.

It was the first career marathon for Erichsen, who won the half marathon in this event last year. He did not look like a rookie, however, playing mind games with a pack of three runners before leaving them behind.

"I knew at the half that I was conservative," he said, "so I wanted to see what he had and I wanted to see what I had."

He had a lot, losing ground to the stopwatch for only one mile late in the race. He shattered the record of 2:24.33 set last year by Pete Gilman of Rochester, Minn.

"I was definitely aware of that and I thought I could do that," Erichsen said.

By mile 20, it was obvious the victory - and the course record - was his to lose. Consistently running around 5:10 mile splits, he slipped between miles 24 and mile 25 running a 5:40.

It was his version of hitting the wall.

"I hit one but it just wasn't that bad," he said. "I was just hoping the average didn't hit the six-minute pace."

A pack of three runners hung tight for most of the first half of the race consisting of Erichsen, Cheruiyot and unheralded Obed Gisemba of Windom, Minn.

Gisemba dropped off just before mile 12, but hung on to claim third place. It wasn't long before Cheruiyot was a couple of blocks back, and the lead surged from there to estimates of up to a half a mile.

Erichsen won $1,500 for his first-place finish while Cheruiyot won $1,200 and Gisemba $800.

Erichsen's time was a B qualifying standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials in two years in Houston. He plans on taking some time off. Just 24 years old, he ran competitively at St. John's University (Minn.).

It was a good weekend for Johnnies. On Friday night, sophomore Ruairi Moynihan won the 5K.

"You have to make sacrifices because there are other things you want to do," Erichsen said. "But training is about consistency and you have to make those sacrifices."

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546

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.