Northern Arizona University junior cross country and track and field athlete Morten Bostrom from Finland finished first in Sunday’s P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona half-marathon in Phoenix.
NAU assistant cross country and track and field coach Erin Rodrigs also competed in the marathon, winning the 25-29 year-old age group. Rodrigs finished 16th overall in the women’s race with a time of 3:05:35.
Bostrom, a junior geographic information management major, finished the race in 1:06:33, two seconds ahead of Kyle Goklish, a former runner at the University of Arizona, who took second place.
In what observers described as a two-man race, Bostrom and Goklish separated themselves from the pack early and pushed each other for the bulk of the race. It was not until the last stretch that Bostrom made a final surge for the victory.
“In a race like this it helps when you have somebody to run with,” Bostrom told The Arizona Republicafter the race. “Physically and mentally, it’s so much better running at the same pace (with someone else). You know he’s hurting as much as you are or even more.”