Crystal Lake man wins Milwaukee marathon

MILWAUKEE -- Matthew Lavine of Crystal Lake won the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in a time more than five minutes slower than last year's winner as temperatures soared into the mid to high 80s.

He finished in 2 hours 37 minutes 31 seconds Sunday.

"A lot of people dropped out because of the heat and a lot of them dropped out before the race even started," race director Kristine Hinrichs said.

Lavine passed Joe Kurian of Madison, Wis., at about the 24th mile of the 26.2-mile race after Kurian had led until then.

"I won this race because of the weather conditions," Lavine said. "Joe Kurian is a fantastic runner, a much better runner than I am, but the weather didn't favor him.

"Joe led almost the entire race, but he struggled at the end. I wasn't running that fast when I passed him, but Joe had slowed down significantly."

Kurian agreed that the heat was a major factor.

"When (Lavine) came back on me, he blew past me like I've never seen anybody run past me before. I said, 'Congratulations' and let him go," he said.