October 3, 2004 Portland Marathon 




Published: October 4, 2004

Bulletin staff report 

PORTLAND ­ Cheryl Tronson of Bend placed first in her classification and was 10th overall among the women, and Jeff Caba, also of Bend, placed 17th overall to lead a strong showing by Central Oregon runners Sunday at the 2004 Portland Marathon. 

Chris Charles of Seattle was the overall winner. The 27-year-old's time of 2 hours, 25 minutes, 33 seconds ­ while not an event record ­ was more than four minutes faster than the 2:29:53 of runner-up Brandon Reiff, 23, of Moscow, Idaho. 

Portlander Liane Sullivan Rae, 31, was the first woman finisher, winning the division with a time of 2:49:48. Second was Azusa Nojiri, 22, of Tokyo, in 2:50:04. 

Tronson, 46, posted a time of 3:03:50, first by nearly 20 minutes in the women's 45-49 class. Second was Brenda Greer of Spokane Valley, Wash., in 3:23:02. 

Tenth in a women's field of 3,131, Tronson was 93rd among more than 5,800 finishers in the 34th running of the race, which started and finished in downtown Portland. 

Caba, 34, clocked in at 2:45:40, third among Oregon finishers. Also in the top 50 finishers from Central Oregon, Ryan Ness, 29, of Bend was 35th overall in 2:53:54, and Monty Gregg, 32, of Redmond was 47th in 2:57:10. 

In addition to Tronson, top-50 finishers on the women's side included Bend's Lynn Jacobs, 36, who was 34th in 3:19:26, and Redmond's Emily Weathers, 30, who placed 44th in 3:22:33. 

Two Bend runners finished among the leaders in the women's 19-and-under classification. Sarah Williams was second in the class (3:53:15), and Mackenzie Root was third (4:06:03).