WARTRACE, Tenn. — John Kruckeberg dashed to the win Saturday morning with a push in the final two miles to win the 47th Strolling Jim 40-Miler.
Kruckeberg, 38, of Clarks Hill, S.C., finished in 4:44:30 to claim the title. Joseph Spear, 41, of Atlanta, was second in 4:46:36. Kruckeberg and Spear were second and third overall last year. Saturday morning, they caught up with early leader Austin Pryor in the final two miles. Pryor jumped out to a comfortable lead, but Kruckeberg and Spear reeled him in before the final highway dash to the finish line.
Martha Clemmer, 30, of Chattanooga won the women’s title with a sprint to the finish to clock 4:58:34. That record time earned her the top award along with a coveted gold t-shirt for a sub-5-hour finish. It also puts Clemmer in fifth place on the women’s Top 10 records list.
Caitlin Jones, 41, of Hesperus, Col., was second in the women’s division, finishing in 5:19:14. That was better than her 2024 win, when she eighth in 5:31:19.
A handful of runners from north Alabama participated in the annual test. Dink Taylor of Huntsville completed his 39th consecutive Strolling Jim 40-Miler on Saturday. He finished in 7 hours, 5 minutes.
This year’s SJ40 returned to its roots, with only the single race for any hearty souls to tackle. For the last dozen years, race organizers have added other distances including marathon, half-marathon and 10K. This year they went Original Gangster Laz old school and put up the 40-miler for those who wanted a test. They had 143 check in to start, a similar-size field of the last five years but below pre-Covid numbers.
Final standings aren’t posted yet but should be here when they are.
