Kevin Kirk, Madey Dickson beat out the competition in the Deseret News half marathon

When Kevin Kirk, 24, decided to run the Deseret News half marathon, he knew he could get a little racing advice from someone who’d done what he hadn’t — his wife.

“My wife ran the half (marathon) last year, and she actually won,” said Kirk, who earned a victory of his own on the course Wednesday morning. “She’s always been better than me. She’s always been a better runner than I am. … It’s fun to compete in that way. But I wouldn’t have been mad if I got second or third, either.”

In fact, top three was what Kirk was hoping for when he signed up for the Pioneer Day race that attracted more than 1,000 runners. Kirk’s time of 1:03:16 was nearly a minute faster than the pack, which he said was extremely talented this year.

“I knew the field, pretty much (could) go any way,” he said. “There’s some really good guys in Utah, obviously. Pretty deep field for the half this year. (It) just kind of depends on where guys were at with training and stuff like that. So top three was the goal. And it was fun. It was a good time.”

Kirk, who ran for Deseret News race director Corbin Talley at Weber State, said he’s managing a Fleet Feet store in Ogden and trying to see how far he can go in professional running. Wednesday’s half was a training race for the marathon he hopes will really test him — the Twin Cities Marathon in October.

“So this is just kind of a stepping stone on our way to hopefully running a good marathon in October,” he said.

Kirk will continue to get that training advice — and push — from last year’s women’s half marathon winner: Billie Hatch because they got married after last year’s victory.

“It’s Billie Hatch-Kirk now,” he said, laughing. “We got married on September 2.”

Jaydn Asay, 29, finished just a minute behind Kirk, earning second place, with a time of 1:04:11, while Jordan Cross, 30, crossed the finish line a minute later to win third place with a time of 1:05:27.

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For Madey Dickson, who won the women’s race with a time of 1:13:58, Wednesday’s race was a return to tradition and her way of having fun.

“I’m just a hobby jogger,” she laughed after crossing the finish line first. “I just like to run.”

Dickson, 28, ran at BYU and graduated in 2019.

“I am usually just running on the track,” she said. “I just decided, you know, the half was my tradition usually. I tried to change it last year and run the 10K, but I like the half better. So I came out today.”

She was thrilled with her finish — and how she handled the final miles of the race, which are among the toughest in any marathon.

“I think it was like, maybe more than a minute faster than last time I ran it,” she said. “I really just wanted to feel good and compete, and the last three miles I usually die pretty hard. But my focus was just to keep a good pace the last three. And it worked out.”

Kaitlin Haviland, 26, earned second place with a time of 1:18:37, while Michelle Kruse, 31, finished in 1:21:11 to place third.