Marathon winners honor ailing friend

Cindi Sedberry leads a group of runners in the 2001 Capital City Classic Tallahassee Marathon across the Capital Circle I-10 overpass. Photo by BRUCE BREWER/Tallahassee Democrat

On a day that local runners dominated the Tallahassee Marathon for the first time in several years, the winners chose to focus on a runner who was sick in bed rather than bask in the glory of their victory.

David Yon fought back his emotions after wining his first overall marathon title in the men's division, almost coming to tears at the absence of Tim Simpkins. Tim Unger, winner of the half-marathon overall title, was just as shaken up Sunday over news that Simpkins had been diagnosed with liver cancer four days before the race, which started and finished at Tallahassee Nurseries.

“I did it for Tim, because Tim and I have ran together for some time,” Unger said. “We shared the grand prix championship, when we finished together in the Boston Marathon a few months ago up in Georgia.”

Unger won the half-marathon in 1 hour, 20 minutes and 21 seconds. He beat out second-place finisher Greg Wadell (1:20:42) and Reid Vannoy (1:22:24) in a closely contested run over a 26.2-mile course that took the runners through the northeast side of Tallahassee.

“With Tim's situation, I wanted to win if for him today,” Unger said. “I felt alone, but his strength gave me the power to win today. It was Tim that got me through this one this morning.”

Yon also said he gained strength in knowing that he was running the race for Simpkins. Yon choked up during postrace interviews while talking about his battle with runner-up Mike LaBossiere over the last six miles of the hilly course.

“It was tough, but not as tough as what Tim is going through,” said Yon, who won in 2 hours, 57 minutes and 25 seconds. Dedicating the race to Simpkins “was a source of strength,” he said. “When I went by the guy for the lead I definitely thought about him.”

Several members of Gulf Winds Track Club have visited Simpkins since he was hospitalized at midweek. Yon said he was in good spirits despite the life-threatening illiness.

“Last night he was giving everybody race strategy on what's the best theory for doing a good job on the course,” Yon said. “It was definitely a motivating factor.”

LaBossiere finished in a time of 3:04.37, and Alfie Cronan took third in 3:03.30.

Yon and LaBossiere were locked in a tight run after they cleared the field of 90 starters in the marathon. It wasn't until they got to A.J. Henry Park, about seven miles from the finish, that Yon managed to shake LaBosiere.

“It was a pretty tough course, especially the first part,” LaBossiere said. “It was a lot of hills. He had to make a stop, and I thought I would get by him. But he kept on going.”

Carrie Weyant won the women's marathon title, her second in the last four years. Her time was 3:36:01, more than a minute better than runner-up Julie Clark (3:37:30). Shelly Tyler was third in 3:47:26.

Sarah Doctor Williams easily won the women's half-marathon in 1:27:47, finishing ahead of List Whitworth (1:41:20) and Colleen Smith (1:41:26).

None of the runners seemed as concerned about their times as they were about Simpkins, who won the marathon in 1977 and '78. He probably is more famous for his daily run through the city wearing costumes that depicted a variety of comic book characters.

Simpkins would be Batman one day and Spiderman the next.

“It is something that was so unusual, but he knew what he was doing,” said Shannon Sullivan, a friend of Simpkins who started classes at Florida State on the same day Simpkins did in 1972. “It's not something I would do, but he had his way of having fun with it.

“I see him on Pensacola Street all the time, and people are always warming up to him. They were always honking at him. I thought it was so funny because he took it to an extreme.”