Up the Hills They Go

Hills in Florida? Yes, though runners usually expect a pancake-flatter rain when running a race in Florida, the Coach McGarity Five-Mile Hill Run is often touted as the “toughest course in Southwest Florida.” Race organizers attest that there are indeed 17 hills! For seasoned local runners, the higher elevation in the Indian Hill and Caxambas Drive neighborhoods in Marco Island provides that much-needed challenge. 

This is the 44th running of Marco’s Five-Mile Hill Race. According to the organizers, this is the longest-running race in Collier County started by then running Coach Mark McGarity. Mark passed away in 2021 and this race is a tribute to one of his favorite places to run – Marco’s five-mile hills! 

On December 21, 2024, all 250 runners took up that challenge. For five miles, runners are either going up a hill or going downhill with a few stretches of flat ground. That famous saying by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” comes to mind. Challenging yourself is good for runners, and a hill run is a perfect example of how it pushes you to your limits and makes you tougher. There is that love-hate relationship with running hills. At the end of the five-mile race, all 250 runners finished, some with their personal best!  

A shout-out to all record-breakers! Runners from all over sign up for this race, and sometimes world record holders and record breakers use this race as an easy weekend run or a tune-up for an upcoming race. Notable woman runner Jeannie Rice, 76, was part of Saturday’s five-mile hill run. Rice ran the London Marathon on April 21, 2024, and broke her own age-group (75+ age-group) world record with a time of 3:33:27 – averaging 8:08 per mile pace. Jeannie broke her previous world record from October 2023 when she ran in Chicago with a finish time of 3:34:32. 

Rice was not the only impressive runner on this course – Don Owens, at 80 years young, came in first place (43:41.4) in his age group of 80 and over!  

Congratulations to all participants from Marco Island (in no particular order). Gabriel Alsokary, Michael Ariel, Brianna Ferro, Sheila Ariel, Stephanie Cosola, Kito Middleton, Hazel McNees, Mike McNees, Margaret Poling, Morgan Iddings, Marty Phelan, Miranda Skinner, Cindy Roloff, Chris Black, Noelle Alsokary, Jennifer Conroy, Nicole Cholka, Robert Poling, Michelle Miller, CAT Burke, Jen Alsokary, Brandon Black, Linda Ariel, Lazaro Ferro, Kyle Foster, Eileen Poling, Adalid Lora, Kerry Lydon, Marissa Mengelkoch, Dawn Snyder, Paul Tateo, Robert Winterhalter, Sarah Nemeth, Betty Nemeth.