This so-called individual sport
Left to right: Brandt Bergeron, Maddie Meyers, Jonathon Tran, Kevin Chin Shue, Kasey Geller, and Ashley Althaus goof around in front of The Bean. Photo by Corrine Murray.
The Chicago Marathon needs no introduction. Since the club was founded in 2017, Chicago has seen more than its share of Rose City Track’s fastest marathon times, including five top-10 times and the men’s team record of 2:28:47 set by David Clark in 2024.
This year, five team members travelled to the Windy City to race: Ashley Althaus, Brandt Bergeron, Jonathon Tran, Kasey Geller, and Maddie Meyers. Kendall Bergeron flew out to cheer and Supreeth Mannava took the opportunity afforded by a friend’s wedding to cheer as well. Richard Frohock officially joined Rose City a few days after Chicago.
Each of them kindly shared some recollections from this extraordinary weekend.
Pre-race
Supreeth: There’s something special about being on the sidelines witnessing a marathon. I had the fortune to do this on back to back Sundays with the Portland Marathon and Chicago the following week.
Jon: We spend countless weeks training with one another, slowly getting to know each other more and more with each run…. All five of our Rose City teammates made a tremendous effort to support each other leading up to the race, on race day, and post race.
Brandt: Heading into the race I’d had a great year of training, but faced a few setbacks in the last six weeks of the build with some extended fatigue off Hood to Coast followed by three weeks of cold symptoms leading into the race.
Jon: My favorite part about traveling to a city for a marathon with teammates is getting [to] see the good, the bad, the nerves and everything in between.
Kendall: I heard a lot of our Rose City runners waffling a bit on their big swings and trying to establish B and C and D goals prior to the race, whether they were still fighting off something respiratory or just feeling off. Which was super wise!
Jon: That morning shakeout on Saturday was chaotic, we had planned to run 3–4 miles but got stuck north of the Chicago River due to the bridge rising. We had to scurry down the river into the city, up and down extra stairs and getting trapped in multiple closed off dead ends in Millenium Park. What a morning!
Race morning
Kendall: It was a beautiful fall day—you wouldn’t want it any warmer but really can’t ask for better weather these days.
Ashley: Chicago was a blast with teammates there. Managed to all find each other in the corral and start off strong. Even better to celebrate everyone’s successes after!
Jon: On race day—as soon as I scrambled my way through the security gates along with 50,000 other nervous runners, I immediately bumped into Ashley Althaus. This almost NEVER happens—especially when we’re wearing non-RC throwaway shirts! Ashley mentioned she was looking for a friend of Abby [Dalke]’s, Emma, in between the A and B gates despite not having her phone or not even knowing what Emma looked like! The extra little stress Ashley put on herself to find Emma… the memory of Ashley aimlessly shouting “Emma… is there a girl named EMMA here?? Emma… are you here??” lives in my head rent-free.
Brandt: When I showed up in Millenium Park Sunday morning, I really didn’t know what the day had in store. But I knew that RCTC was up for the fight and we had 26.2 miles of opportunity in front of us. I found Maddie and the Rose City crew in Corral A just a few minutes before 7:30am start.
Jon: When I entered the corral, I immediately spotted Geller’s beautiful gold Rose City singlet. We had discussed multiple times our hopes to run together, and I remember jumping up and down with my hands in the air (like a kid in a candy store) as I jogged up to Geller…. Abby’s friend, Emma, then spotted our Rose City singlets and came up to us! … We then spotted Brandt and Maddie a couple groups over and all happily shuffled over to them. I wish we were able to take a photo with the 5 of us together before the start!
The gun goes off
Richard: I started toward the front of A corral. Since Chicago gets so crowded, I wanted to be sure I could get out quick. However that strategy coupled with what can only be described as a mini rave at the .5 mile mark led to a—let's call it optimistic—first mile.
Brandt: The gun sounded and Maddie and I set out together; we got out an easy start as we worked to find sustainable race effort. There were several miles of exhilarating tight-packed maneuvering in the Loop. Quick right angles into opposing walls of 50-story buildings and 5-deep crowds. We laughed and yelled at our friends in the crowd. Eventually, our pack headed north, finding some more running room and settling into 6:00 pace with a little more space to operate. Time to go to sleep.
Jon: Ashley, Geller and I stuck together through the first mile—trying to settle into marathon pace with the overstimulation of the crowd and the race nerves causing us to run faster than we intended. Ashley continued to take off and Geller remind[ed] me that I needed to slow down.
Jon, Geller, and Ashley stick together at the start of the race. Photo by Chicago Marathon.
Supreeth: I was particularly inspired watching Rose City teammates working together throughout the race. Early on I spotted Maddie and Brandt in the same pack trailed by Jon and Geller a few minutes later.
Jon: Geller and I worked together through the first couple miles and around mile 6, I couldn’t hold in my pee any longer. I turned to Geller and said “I have to pee, keep going and I promise I’ll catch up” as I ran straight for the port-a-potty. After I started running again, I could see Geller’s gold singlet a good 45ish seconds ahead of me. I spent 3 miles slowly catching up to Geller, and caught up with him around mile 9! We used this momentum to work together through the next several miles.
Richard: Fortunately, I was able to get my heartrate down and settle into my goal pace in the next few miles. The first half ended going about as well as it could have. I was even able to pick out some of my friends in the crowd. After that, I tried to just focus on keeping everything in control.
Brandt: [Maddie and I] cruised through until halfway, and unspoken started to push the pace down 10 to 15 seconds per mile. We worked to stay patient and mindful of fueling and hydration.
Jon: I think I, unfortunately, started to lose Geller around mile 16 but then I saw Ashley’s gold singlet in the distance. I spent 9 miles slowly catching up to Ashley, meeting up with her around mile 24!
Richard: At mile 21, I started to slow, but I managed to hold off my panic and settle into the slightly slower pace.
Supreeth: [A]s late as the 21 mile mark, Maddie and Brandt were still side by side looking smooth and well on their way to crushing their goals!
Maddie and Brandt side by side.
Kendall: I loved seeing Maddie and Brandt side by side through mile 21, and even more was happy to see Maddie cruise away and cut down in the final 3 miles.
Brandt: At mile 18 I started to feel the effort, and by mile 23 I knew I would be working harder to run slower the rest of the way home. I’m proud of being able to dig through those last couple miles—felt very much like damage control but didn’t totally bleed out which is a testament to the strength built with teammates and coaches this year.
Richard: I saw some friends again at mile 25 and attempted to impress them by speeding up and was immediately rewarded with dual calf cramps. By some miracle I was able to keep the cramps from getting too bad until the final 100 m, which was quite possibly the longest stretch of the race. I was then able to turn around and watch Brandt absolutely crush his finish and meet up with Maddie who also crushed it!
Brandt: Mile 25 was a blur, Mt. Roosevelt (whoa the stomach doesn’t feel good!), then hit the line, and wobble[d] to the Goose Island table. Pretty cool!
Jon: In the final 200 meters, my left leg cramped up and I had to stop. I remember telling myself in that split second to fight through the pain and get my ass across that finish line. I fought through the pain and shuffled/walked/limped/ran myself slowly, but surely, all the way through to the finish.
Chicago results
Post-race
Geller: It was a tough race for me mentally. It wasn’t what I wanted but the more I think about it might have been what I needed. Trying to get my mind back into the pain of racing and the highs and lows of how you feel during such a long race. Coming out of it I was pretty down and hard on myself, but having a day past it I’m eager to get back to work and try some new challenges
Kendall: [I]t was so delightful to see many teammates THRIVE and grab their A or B goals.
Jon: Before I joined Rose City 3 years ago, all I ever wanted to accomplish was to break 3 hours. The years of training with this team has pushed me to levels I never thought I’d reach. I’m still processing how I ran a 4 minute PR this last weekend—2:45!! (We round down, right?)
Jon, Ashley, and Kevin Chin Shue celebrate a job well done.
Kendall: And a special shoutout to Jon Tran for a big PR on his birthday eve! … It was exciting to see him have an amazing day and move through the field.
Supreeth: Getting to see the Rose City yellow standing out against the backdrop of a massive event like Chicago is particularly exciting.
Brandt: It was a glorious day in the sun and a celebration of lots of hard work and camaraderie. Cheers to Chicago!
Supreeth: I left that experience feeling more motivated than ever to get after my own goals and reminded of how much better this so-called individual sport can be when you do it with a team.
Closing thoughts
Ashley, Brandt, Jon, and Maddie all earned PRs. Geller ran his fastest marathon since he joined Rose City at the beginning of the year. Chicago continues to collect Rose City top-10 times, with Brandt moving up to #4 on the men’s list, Ashley improving her time from the London Marathon earlier this year, and Maddie set a new team record (and OTQ time) of 2:35:37. Maddie becomes Rose City’s fourth member to qualify for the Olympic Trials, after Fionna Fallon, Emma Huston, and Ariane Hendrix-Roach.
According to David Clark, “Chicago is one of the few places that qualifies for [half marathon] split times under IAAF rule 31.21,” meaning that a half marathon split there is “eligible for national/world records.” Maddie’s split of 1:18:51 is #5 on the women’s half marathon list.
As impressive as the performances were, what made the day special was the shared experience. Throughout the day, the gold singlet was a beacon that drew everyone together.
Past coverage: Glenn Kasin 2019 | Chicago Marathon 2017
Cheers from Geller, Brandt, Jon, Maddie, and Ashley.