NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Sunshine Insurance held its annual Marathon Bahamas event over the weekend.
The two-part series opened up with the Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure” on Saturday, and wrapped up with the marquee events of the weekend, the half and whole marathon.
Bryan Morseman, from New York, won the marathon in a record time of 2:27:35.
“I was happy with the time. I felt like I could have run 2:25, but the goal was to come in and win and get the course record,” Morseman said about the race. “I love the snow, but this is a nice getaway. The course is really beautiful, but it definitely has some hard parts like mile 10 and mile 16. My stomach was giving me some pains and tightening up, so I had to slow down and adjust to how I feel.
“Living in New York, it’s hard to prepare for a race like this because it is so humid. I had to use a treadmill to generate the heat faster than running outside.”
Spain’s Nacho Hernando was the top male finisher in the half marathon in 1:09.57, breaking the old record of 1:11.27 set by Johnathan Volpi in 2014.
Katalin Nagy was the top female finisher in the full marathon, while Alice Henly took the half-marathon in 1:27.24.
“I was pleased with the time, especially because it’s really hot and humid,” said Nagy. “After 16 miles, I had really bad cramping and stomach issues, which made the last eight or nine miles really tough for me. The last two miles were extremely hard. My goal was to get under 3:10 and I did that.”
Once again, Marathon Bahamas featured athletes from all around the world. Some of the countries represented included England, Canada, Australia and the United States.
Event co-founder Franklyn Wilson said they’ve worked to improve the race every year to ensure it provides a “once in a lifetime” experience.
“We want to thank everyone for the support,” Wilson said. “This country doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to credibly position itself as being best in the world at anything. We have some situations when we are able to flash on the world stage in a credible way, but nothing consistent. But I want everyone to know that Marathon Bahamas has the potential to be seen as the best marathon experience in the world. I’m not saying largest, but I’m talking experience, in terms of what the participants see and feel.”
