Robyn Luthi with her medal after completing the 2023 AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships. (Submitted Photo/Robyn Luthi)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Amazing Athlete

Melfort runner shines at 2023 World Championship marathon in Chicago

Oct 13, 2023 | 5:09 PM

A runner from Melfort is making a name for herself on the international stage.

Robyn Luthi ran in the 2023 AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships this past Sunday in Chicago after qualifying through strong times at the 2022 Boston Marathon and the 2022 Berlin Marathon. The race happened simultaneously with the Chicago Marathon.

In her age group, 40 to 44, she ended up placing 14^th and ended up being the 32^nd woman to cross the finish line. She also finished with the 530^th best time out of all the racers, men and women, with nearly 3,000 competing.

Luthi told northeastNOW the last leg of the race was definitely the hardest.

“The last seven kilometres of any marathon I’ve ever run in is always a challenge and is always difficult, you want to die, and you want to be doing anything else in the world but finish that race,” she joked.

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The desire to finish paid off as she finished with a time of 2:58:15, a new personal best. Luthi noted finishing under three hours has been one of her two major running goals.

“I was so excited and emotional that I got that sub 3 (hour) handily by two minutes, I could have easily chugged a beer at the finish line,” she laughed.

The other goal is to finish the six races apart of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

So far, she’s completed the Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Berlin Marathon, and the TCS London Marathon. She is scheduled to race at the 2024 Tokyo Marathon happening in February and March but is still trying to get a spot at the 2024 New York Marathon happening in November.

Luthi has qualified to run in New York, however, there are only so many spots for qualifiers.

“It’s kind of like buying lottery tickets.”

If she doesn’t end up getting a spot, she may compete at the 2024 AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in Sydney as she has also qualified for that race.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow