Flashed! The 2010 Country Music Marathon
Little more than an hour after South American William Naranjo won the men's division of the 11th annual Country Music Marathon today, a thunderstorm moved into the area with several thousand runners still on the course.
Lightning and accompanying thunder began around 10:12 a.m., and by 10:30 a.m., a heavy downpour drenched runners still competiing.
Their was no immediate word from race officials on how many of the approximate 32,000 runners were still running when the storm struck.
Naranjo, a native of Colombia, won today's 26.2-mile event with an unofficial time of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 39 seconds. Naranjo, 31, finished in last year's event with a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, 32 seconds.
The women's division of the event went to Ilsa Paulson, a 21-year-old runner from New York City. Paulson's unofficial winning time was 2 hours, 33 minues, 41 seconds.
