Originally published at EastIdahoNews.com

By Emily Miller

REXBURG — It was a record-breaking year for the Teton Dam Marathon in Rexburg, with the highest number of participants the race has ever had, and runners crushing previous records in four different races.

The races were held last Saturday, June 3 in and around Rexburg, with over 1,100 runners participating. Race director Jake Linford says the previous attendance record was set in 2008 with around 1,080 participants.

It was a great day for Aaron Withers, who already held the Teton Dam Marathon record at 2:40:34 from his race in 2019, and beat it by almost eight minutes Saturday, setting a new course record at 2:32:48. That’s a 5:50 average per mile. The previous record of 2:43:37 was set by Braden Miller in 2017.

Withers, a 26-year-old graduate of Brigham Young University-Idaho who now lives in the Boise area, finished in first place at the marathon for the third time. He also won in 2018 in his first-ever attempt competing in a marathon, with a time of 3:00:01. He says he never expected to win his very first marathon.

“I was really surprised, especially because I really had no idea what I was doing when I was training,” he says. “There’s such a science to marathon training that I didn’t know at the time. I didn’t have a running watch. I wasn’t really tracking my pace. I brought CLIF bars which are like cardboard. I didn’t know about gels or electrolyte mixes. I was really surprised I won my first year.”

Withers says he’s taking the next week to rest before getting back at it, training for the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan in September. His goal is to break 2:30:00 and shave another three minutes off his Teton Dam Marathon time.

“If you think about what that means per mile, it’s only shaving off five or six seconds per mile,” he says. “But over 26 miles it adds up quite a bit.”

Long term goals for Withers include eventually qualifying and running in the Boston Marathon, which he says will require being selective about which races he chooses. He says training at a lower elevation in Boise to run in a higher elevation in Rexburg is actually backwards, and that if he wants to get more serious, he’s going to need to flip that around.

“I do feel like I might be taking running a little bit more seriously going forward,” he says. “If I’m racing for a specific time I might try doing more races at sea level.”

For instance, he says there is a huge marathon-training community in Boulder, Colorado, where runners train in the mile-high elevation and then race at a lower elevation for maximum results.

“When you hop down to Boston or Berlin or any of those sea level races, your body just adapts really well to that extra oxygen,” he says.

Withers says running has been a perfect hobby for him as a young professional with a family.

“It’s just so much fun. It’s almost like a creative outlet or something,” he says. “I feel like it balances my life because I have a regular desk job. When I come home from work I just want to be active. Running fills that need perfectly for me.”

He says the opportunity for travel is another bonus for him and his wife Kelsie. He says they’re dreaming up plans for traveling to Europe, where she can see all the art and museums and he can do the “thrilling stuff,” like running marathons.

When it comes down to it, Withers just wants to keep going.

“I want to do what sounds fun,” he says. “I don’t want to have the same season twice. I’d like to have a fun variety of marathons.”

Each year, the Teton Dam Marathon includes a full marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K and a kids race. While the record-breaking finish by Withers was a highlight of last weekend’s events, there were also three other runners who set new records in their races:

• Maddie Cannon of Shelley set a new record for females in the half marathon with a time of 1:28:23 and placed third overall.
• Courtney Earl, a high school student from Ammon, set a new 10K record in her age group (up to 17 years old) with a time of 42:05, placing second overall.
• Bella Spencer from Monteview ran a new course record in the 5k with a time of 20:18.

Linford says he and the rest of the recreation department at the city of Rexburg are already making plans for next year. He says they’re working on involving the community as much as possible. Businesses, organizations and entertainers are encouraged to contact him if they’d like information about being part of the event in 2024. He can be reached at jacob.linford@rexburg.org.

For those who’d like to set a goal now to compete next year, registration is already open at RexburgRaces.com.

Follow Withers on his marathon training journey on YouTube at Part Time Runner.