Linden, Booth highlight weekend at Louisiana Marathon

The sixth annual Louisiana Marathon was held in Baton Rouge this past weekend.

It’s a three-day series of events centered around the main event Sunday. The Expo was held on Friday and Saturday while one of three races scheduled took place on Saturday. Canceled due to the weather were the 5K and 1/4 Marathon but the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana Kids Mile did take place in the morning. The weekend concluded with the Louisiana Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday.

The highlight of the weekend was the appearance of the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in more than 30 years, Desiree (Des) Linden, who ran the Louisiana Half Marathon as a tune up to defend her title in Boston in April. She finished the Half Marathon and set a new Louisiana Half-Marathon female record with a time of 1:14:18. Linden also took time after the race to share her thoughts and also visit with some of the fans at the finish festival.

“The course was flat and dry and I had others who were there to support me this was a great event,” Des Linden said.

Another highlight this weekend was provided by Mandeville native Rachel Booth who qualified for the 2020 Marathon Olympic Trials by finishing the Louisiana Marathon in 2:43:57. After competing in the 2012 Marathon Olympic Trials in Houston, Booth set the Louisiana Half course record of 1:17.19 in 2013 which broken by Linden on Sunday morning. Booth holds personal bests of 1:14:46 in the Louisiana Half Marathon and 2:37:59 in the Louisiana Marathon.

Taylor Simoneaux took first among men in the Marathon with a time of 2:38:18. Second place finisher Benjamin Maas posted a time of 2:44:21, and Benjamin Jones in third place ran in 2:45:23.

Second place among females was Erica Schramm with a time of 3:00:34 and in third place was Amy Natalini with a time of 3:00:49

Keith Kotar took the Half-Marathon with a time of 1:11:22 followed by Andrew Foxenberg in second with a time of 1:13:45 and George Fagan in third at 1:14:08.

Jessica Jones came in second behind Linden with a time of 1:26:14 with Emily Cleland third at 1:26:59.

The Louisiana Marathon had 48 states and eight countries represented on Sunday. The breakdown of the over 1,000 registrants for the four originally scheduled events is as follows:

Full — More than 1,000 registered runners
Half — Almost 2,500 registered runners
Quarter — 760 registered runners
5K — Almost 2,000 registered runners
Kids – Almost 300 registered runners