Dilliner resident first woman to finish at Pittsburgh Marathon
A Dilliner woman captured first place among the women runners at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday.
Clara Santucci, 27, crossed the finish line with a time of 2:32:25 — the first time she had ever competed in the Pittsburgh Marathon.
Gebo Burka Gemade of Ethiopia won the men’s title with a time of 2:16:30.
More than 30,000 runners competed in the 26.2 mile marathon.
Santucci, who was considered by many as the favorite to win the women’s race, has had a stellar race performance during the past several months.
In October, Santucci beat more than 39,000 runners in the Chicago Marathon that fielded top runners from across the globe. Only a few Kenyans and a Russian were ahead of her. The first American woman across the finish line, Santucci placed ninth with a time of 2 hours, 31 minutes and 39 seconds.
In January, Santucci finished fifth at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston with a time of 1:12:58 for the 13.1 mile course that attracts elite runners from across the country. Santucci posted a 34th place finish – a personal best of 1:12:21 — in the World Half Marathon Championships in March in Denmark.
Santucci’s goal is to compete in the marathon at the Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“That’ll take a lot of work,” she said in October after finishing the Chicago Marathon. “I’m never one to get comfortable with past success. I know there is going to be a lot of work ahead.”
Though the past few months of strong performances have more than proven that Santucci is on pace to compete in the summer Olympics in 2016, her performance in Pittsburgh sealed the deal and then some.
The U.S. Olympic trial standard for the women’s “A” team is 2:37:00. Since Santucci has made that grade in Chicago and Pittsburgh, she has earned the chance to compete in the marathon finals in February 2016 in Los Angeles.
Not bad for a West Virginia University graduate who regularly runs the rail trails between Point Marion and Morgantown, W.Va.
Rio de Janeiro is a long way from Doddridge County, W.Va. where Santucci grew up. The one-room schoolhouse where she lived with her five siblings had no central heat or air conditioning, and hot water could be hard to come by some mornings. Santucci said her mother, Diana, learned how to stretch the food budget through gardening and more. Santucci said she first learned that she may have talent as a runner during a Presidential Fitness test when she beat her classmates during a race around the gym at her middle school.
Later as a runner at WVU, Santucci took top honors including a first-place finish in the 10K – 6.2 miles – in the Big East Championships in 2010.
Santucci runs between 90 to 110 miles a week — often twice a day. Many times, Santucci runs on the trails around Bobtown or the roads around Friendship Hill National Historic Site in Springhill Township.
After years of training and hard work, Santucci’s fleet feet are paying big bills.
According to news reports, Santucci took home a $15,000 payday for a couple hours of work Sunday morning. That paycheck breaks down to $8,000 as women’s champion, $4,500 as the top American, $1,500 for a 2016 qualifying time; and $1,000 as the top Pennsylvanian.
Santucci is married to Jason, who is also an accomplished runner.
Pittsburgh’s victory puts Clara Santucci one step closer to achieving her Olympic dreams.
“I get out and run because of my goals — the next Olympics,” she said in October. “I focus on the long term and the future. Running — you can apply those lessons learned on the trails to the rest of your life. And that has made all the difference in mine.”