Dallas and Harper Lead Small Field Over Historic and Beautiful Marathon Course...

1/1/03--St. Croix, Virgin Islands--The field of runners in The 2^nd St. Croix International Marathon was small.  A mixture of runners, all dedicated to test their limits on a truly beautiful running course situated on the north shore St. Croix that provided rolling hills and a bit of head wind on an out-and-back configuration.  Two-time Virgin Islands’ Olympic marathon runner Calvin Dallas at 50 years old was basically unchallenged as he cruised to the finish line which is just a stone’s throw from the historic point where Christopher Columbus visited on his second voyage to the “new world”.  It is viewed as where natives of the western hemisphere and Europeans had their first physical confrontation.  Theresa Harper took charge early and finished her third marathon in 3:48 and now looks toward the spring and Boston.  Gunnar Sanden and Leopold took second place honors as they had the first tie in a Virgin Islands marathon, their time was 3:42.30.  Veteran Jo shim, the winner of the race in 2001, took second with a 4:02.14.  Bill Lease of Harve de Grace, MD made a special trip to St. Croix for the race and is putting together of marathons for the year, was third 3:57.29.  Susan Daley of Chicago, also traveled to the island for the race and for the second time, finished third  in 6:34.54 after a dnf for the first one.  Jo Shim, Theresa Harper and Leopold are now eligible for the $1,000 raffle by the Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation for runners who complete the Run St. Croix series which consists of the Veterans Day 5K, the Virgin Islands Half-Marathon, The 2^nd St.Croix Marathon and The Three Kings Mile.