Oak Park’s Jens Conzen, Bolingbrook’s Sydney Watkins top winners in 2026 Starved Rock Country Marathon

The 2026 edition of the Starved Rock Country Marathon – the 11th running of the event which began 2014 – took place Saturday, beginning and ending in downtown Ottawa with a 26.2-mile course that took participants west through Starved Rock State Park.

One-hundred-twenty-five participants completed the full marathon, with Oak Park’s Jens Conzen the overall male winner in 3 hours, 13 minutes, 34.9 seconds and Bolingbrook’s Sydney Watkins the top female finisher in a time of 3:16:57.8.

The male top 10 also included runner-up Alberto Salas (3:19:30.6), Paul De Avila (3:20:00.7), Juan Valdez (3:25:59.0), fifth-place finisher Arthur Santoro (3:28:53.3), Jorge Carmona (3:31:36.6), Ian Moll (3:32:32.7), eighth-place finisher Luke Tornell (3:33:06.5), Jordan Gonzales (3:33:31.7) and Cooper Williams (3:36:14.1).

The female top 10 behind Watkins included runner-up Linda Clark (3:30:38.7), Kara Hodges (3:44:38.7), Amelia Clark (3:54:32.9), fifth-place runner Savannah Paschen (3:57:37.4), Kim Weidner-Feigh (3:57:48.3), Jessica Sun (4:10:26.2), eighth-place finisher Natalee Martin (4:17:31.1), Kim Davis (4:23:27.2) and Jennifer Stopka (4:42:24.0).

Jens Conzen breaking the tape at the Starved Rock Country full marathon on Saturday, May 9, 2026. Conzen, an Oak Park resident, finished with a time of 3:13.32, best in the field. (Mathias Woerner)

Ottawa’s own Lucas Hoffman won the Starved Rock Country Half-Marathon by four and a half minutes with a 13.1-mile run of 1 hour, 15 minutes, 27.9 seconds. John Thomas Hinchen of Chicago was the runner-up, with area entrants Christian Skaggs of Wenona (3rd, 1:22:56.9), Sean Manley of Ottawa (4th, 1:27:38.8), Casey Bailey of Ottawa (9th, 1:34:21.7), RJ Hermosillo of Oglesby (11th, 1:34:53.5), Adrian Hermosillo of Oglesby (1:35:48.0), Kaedon Cronkright of Ottawa (1:36:11.5), Katie Marshall of La Salle (21st overall, 2nd female finisher, 1:40:43.1), Quinn Delvallee of Oglesby (22nd, 1:42:17.3) and Donald Kiesig Jr. of Ottawa (27th, 1:42:46.0) finishing in the top 30 in the field of 373 finishers.

Oswego’s Marc Cook (43:05.6) was first overall and Ottawa’s Kim Foster (43:34.4) second overall and the top female finisher in the day’s 10K, which also saw Streator’s Alex Garcia (48:09.5) place fourth.

The Starved Rock Country 5K was won by La Salle’s Nicholas Finzel in 19 minutes, 46.1 seconds. Marseilles’ Chad Kovash (4th, 20:58.2) and Ottawa’s Lucas Farabaugh (5th, 21:10.2) also finished in the top five, with Ottawa’s Ocean Fowler (23:55.0) the top female finisher, Leland’s Abagail Kuske (26:12.6) the female runner-up and Streator’s Chloe Baker (26:17.3) third.

Full results can be found at racingexpectations.com.