Long, Chettle blaze across finish line to win William A. Irvin 5k
Friday afternoon’s William A. Irvin 5k was the kickoff to a jam packed Grandma’s Marathon weekend.
Boasting its largest ever amount of participants at 2,680 registrants, with 2,016 official finishers, it was a cool 75 degrees at the starting line behind the DECC.
For the men Jesse Chettle, who is also running in the half marathon Saturday, took first place with a time of 14:52. He narrowly edged 2021 champion Mason Shea by two seconds. Chettle is the first men’s champion to break the 15-minute mark in this race since Darren Lewis did it in 1997.
Meanwhile in the women’s field Nikki Long ran a personal best time of 16:15 in her first place finish. *It’s nearly a minute faster than the established women’s event record of 17:11 set by Katie McGee in 1996. Long was also almost a minute faster than this year’s runner-up, Lindsey Zimmer.
*A release by Grandma’s Marathon noted, "IMPORTANT: Due to an error by course officials that may have resulted in a slightly shortened race, the 2022 William A. Irvin 5K times are unofficial and under review until further notice.."

Nikki Long crosses the finish line.[WDIO/Dillon Morello]
Full, unofficial results of this year’s race can be found HERE.
Grandma’s Marathon is set to begin Saturday, and WDIO will be providing full race day coverage.