TCU professor overcomes injury, wind and warm temps to win first Cowtown Marathon
In December, Joseph Darda had to stop running.
He was at mile 20 of the Dallas Marathon, and a knee injury was proving too much to bear.
So Darda, 32, had few expectations when he started the Cowtown Marathon on Sunday at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. He was just hoping to finish.
He did more than just finish. Darda, an English professor at TCU, won Cowtown for the first time with a time of 2:31. He finished second a year ago with a slightly better time.
But gusty winds and warm temperatures — Sunday’s high was 75 degrees — made for a grind this year, especially in the last mile of the race.
“I felt pretty good up until the last mile. We turned the corner over by the Trinity River, where you make a hairpin turn, and all of sudden you get the full blast of wind in your face,” Darda said. “So that last mile was tough. But by that time I had a pretty good lead so I could hang in there.”
Darda caught second-place finisher Eric Delgado, of Oklahoma City, at about mile 21. Delgado, 39, was running the first marathon of his life, and was out of gas when Darda caught him.
“I was on pace and that wind just ate me up. I kind of fell off and he passed me and I was good with second after that,” said Delgado, who is a mechanic at Tinker Air Force Base. “He kind of mentally beat me right there. I walked for a minute and gathered myself and took off again. I probably should have [started] slower.”
Delgado said he’ll definitely run more marathons, but he’ll alter his pace out of the chute.
Darda, who grew up in Washington and has been teaching American Literature at TCU for the past five years, was running his 26th marathon, including several wins, the last coming in Seattle in 2018. His personal best finish is 2:27, he said. He ran a 2:29 at Cowtown a year ago and finished about a minute behind the winner.
With Sunday’s weather conditions, however, he’ll take the slightly slower time and the win.
“I was pleased to be anywhere close to my time last year,” he said. “At about mile 25, I knew I had a pretty good lead at that point. I think [Delgado] was struggling a little bit and I was feeling OK at that point.”
The warmth and wind made it tough for all the runners — more than 1,400 in the marathon and 24,669 overall over the two-day, seven-race event.
Darda had one other obstacle. The race course runs close to his apartment on Forest Park Boulevard, near Paschal High School.
“Every year it’s little bit difficult running by there thinking I could just go home and have brunch and take a nap,” Darda joked. “At 32, I’m probably maybe on the down slope of my running career, so it’s exciting to get the win in my hometown marathon. I might not get the chance again.”
Maddie Jenkins, 26, of Frisco was the women’s winner with a time of 2:53:50.
Robert Landauer, a high school math teacher in Wimberley, finished third with a 2:46:18. It’s the first time Landauer, who grew up in Plano, placed at a large-scale marathon.
2020 Cowtown results
Marathon
MEN
Course record: 2014 (2:17:12)
1. Joseph Darda, 32, Fort Worth, 2:31:00
2. Eric Delgado, 39, Oklahoma City, 2:41:24
3. Robert Landauer, 35, Wimberley, 2:46:18
WOMEN
Course record: 2014 (2:42:31)
1. Maddie Jenkins, 26, Frisco, 2:53:50
2. Luciana Bartholomew, 38, Aledo, 3:01:57
3. Hannah Devries, 26, Dallas, 3:06:22
Ultra Marathon
MEN
Course record: 2014 (3:00:21)
1. Jeff Ball, 31, Cedar Hill, 3:38:01
2. Javier Vilchis, 43, Irving, 3:52:03
3. Nathan Sicher, 38, Joplin, Mo., 3:52:19
WOMEN
Course record: 2016 (3:21:33)
1. Rachel Ragona, 36, Frisco, 3:51:43
2. Kelley Aviles, 53, Lewisville, 4:35:41
3. Shaheen Sattar, 35, Dallas, 4:38:08
Half Marathon
MEN
Course record: 2016 (1:04:34)
1. James Ngandu, 29, Van Wert, Ohio, 1:06:13
2. Mark Shaw, 26, Oklahoma City, 1:10:18
3. Carson Vickroy, 24, Tyler, 1:10:41
WOMEN
Course record: 2016 (1:11:47)
1. Clara Langley, 25, Kingston, Ontario Canada, 1:21:55
2. Crystal Chinea, 30, Fort Worth, 1:23:46
3. Neringa Kaulinaite, 37, Fort Worth, 1:24:10
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 4:53 PM.
