VALPARAISO | As a light drizzle fell from the sky on Saturday morning, Karen Nagel lifted her arms to the air as she crossed the finish line of the Valparaiso Mini-Marathon.
The Chesterton resident captured the women's division title on Saturday by finishing the 13.1-mile race in 1:24:22. Nagel completed a clean sweep on the women's side of the Valparaiso Progressive Marathon as she took first in the Ringing in Spring 5K as well as last weekend's Taltree Ten.
"I've been trying to win this race every year since they started it," an overjoyed Nagel said shortly after crossing the finish line. "I'm very excited to win all three in the series."
Nagel took sixth in 2006 and finished third last year, as well as in 2005.
Dan McGrath, a Notre Dame law student, took first place overall when he crossed the finish line in 1:09:48. The Long Island, N.Y., native was participating in the race for the first time.
"I started out a little slow but then by the end, I think my fastest mile was the last one," McGrath said. "This was a great race. It's tough in the area to find good races, but I'll be back next year."
McGrath broke away from the pack along with an unidentified runner. The two crossed the finish line one right after another, but the mystery runner was not registered and fled the scene immediately.
Race officials expressed disappointment after the conclusion with the disturbing trend of runners who participate in races without registering.
"He was a bandit, he wasn't supposed to be here," race organizer Ed Kerfin said. "He probably took off right away because we were looking for him."
Despite Nagel's three women's division victories in the Valparaiso Progressive Marathon races, she was unable to Valparaiso resident David Ahner for the overall title.
Even though he didn't win any of the races, Ahner had the best combined time of the three races. Entering Saturday, Ahner needed to finish 57 seconds better than Nagel and he did so by finishing the race in 1:22:53.
"I like how everything came together with the races," Ahner said. "I hope it picks up and catches on. It's reasonable for someone who couldn't do an entire marathon."
