Roughly 1,000 runners participated in the Sleeping Bear Marathon Saturday in Empire.
Top male finishers include Reid Grommons (Arcadia), Andrew Chapman (Fishers, Indiana), and Jarek Schmanski (Ann Arbor).
Grommons and Chapman crossed the finish line just before three hours with a time of 2:49 and 2:53.
Top female finishers include Emily Hamilton (Holland), Kyrstin Smith (Oscoda), Elisabeth Kessler (Indianapolis). Hamilton took gold with a time of 3:25, followed closely by Smith and Kessler with times of 3:30 and 3:36.
Char Bebiak, 67, of Northport showed that age doesn’t matter as she finished the 26.1 mile marathon with a time of 4:55.
Douglas Fry, 67, of Kalkaska ran the marathon in 4:28. Wayne Christopherson at age 76 breezed through the hilly course in five hours 26 minutes.
Nearly 170 runners took on the full marathon challenge. Roughly 517 half marathon runners participated, and nearly 370 runners conquered the 5K.
