PARKERSBURG - After an unprecedented first last year, it happened again this year.
On Saturday, Erin Talcott and her husband Dave from Owego, N.Y., became the second married couple in two years to capture both the women and men's divisions of the News and Sentinel Half Marathon race-walk.
Just last year, Marge and Dominick Rubertino of Mentor, Ohio, were the first wife and husband ever to claim both half marathon race-walk crowns.
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Erin Talcott
Erin Talcott, 36, has "been race-walking since I was about 11." Before that though, " I was a pretty good runner," she said. "But then I got introduced to race-walking and just kind of instantly fell in love with it -and I've been race-walking ever since for about 25 years now."
On her first try Saturday on the News and Sentinel Half Marathon course, Erin led all race-walkers the entire way as she traversed the 13.1-mile route in an hour, 49 minutes and 51 seconds to finish almost 26 minutes ahead of runner-up Kathleen Pierce of Geneva, Ohio (2:15.37) and third-placer Kathy Ervin of Quaker City, Ohio (2:23.56).
Erin let it be known that "I beat my husband today," as Dave was clocked at 1:50.29 to win the men's event, "so he was about 38 seconds behind me," she added .
Erin was "happy with my time on this course; it is not a flat course. I was really happy with how I worked on the hills -the ups and the downs. Actually for a race-walker, what's even harder are the really steep downhills -those hurt. So I would always love to go faster of course, but I'm very satisfied with my time."
Saturday, the Talcotts "were not walking together at all the entire time," said Erin, who knew Dave was behind her. "At one point," related Erin, "some runners went by and said, 'Better get going, he's catching up.' " But Dave never did, "so we never got to work together," said Erin, who's training to hopefully qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
The Talcotts "race-walk all year round; our season just kind of continuously goes," although Erin's "favorite distance is the 50 kilometers. I actually hold the world best and the world record in that event."
The Talcotts, who have been married 4 1./2 years, met race-walking, and "would sure like to come back here again," said Erin, "because we really enjoyed it."