November 5, 2023 –
Early in the morning of November 5th at Clovis Community College, runners from all over the area gathered for the 15th annual Two Cities Marathon.
The marathon was presented by California Classic Events and CalViva Health. In addition to the full marathon, some runners participated in the half marathon, 10K or 5K.
All runners that finished the marathon were given a 2023 finisher medallion.
The marathon course is a Certified 2024 Olympic Trials Qualifying Course as well as Boston Marathon Qualifying Course.
Runners that qualify for the Boston Marathon received a special shirt that says “BOSTON QUALIFIED” at the Two Cities Marathon.
This year there have been some changes to the race, including a pace car by Fresno Acura, a shuttle bus, a 10k replacing the relay, course redesign to be more flat, a tribute band at the Michelob Ultra Stage, and the new venue pavilion at Clovis Community College.
PRO~PT Physical Therapy Health & Fitness hosted a special expo from 10am to 4pm on Saturday at Alta Sierra.
The full marathon had a $8,000 prize purse!
There was a massive turnout for runners of all ages, the morning was crisp and everyone was ready to go.
First place winner for the full marathon was 30 year-old CJ Albertson. Albertson who won his third Two City title, is a world-record holding long-distance runner born in Fresno who currently competes for Brooks Running.
Albertsron is the world record holder in the 50k run with a time of 2 hours, 38 minutes, and 43 seconds during the Ruth Anderson Memorial Endurance Run in San Francisco.
In 2019, he set the Indoor Marathon world record at The Armory in New York City.
In 2020, he placed 7th in the US Olympic Marathon Trials.
He has placed 10th, 12th, and 13th at the Boston Marathon. In 2021, he led the race for the first 20 miles before ultimately finishing in 10th place.
We are so proud to have CJ represent our community all over the country.
2nd place was Dylan Marx from San Diego, and 3rd place was Patrick Fernandez from Avalon.
For the half marathon, first place winner was 24 year-old Chandler Maciel of Hanford. 2nd place was Veeresh Neralagi from San Jose, and 3rd place was Ruben Reyes from Reedley.
The 10k winner was Jason Hoang, a 26 year-old from San Francisco. 2nd place was Andrew Jones of Fresno, and 3rd place was Lauren Sharwood of Fresno.
For the Gavin Gladding 5k Run/Walk, 21 year-old Dylan Shubert from San Jose took first place. 2nd place was Nathaniel Moore of Clovis, and 3rd place was Michelle Leath of Fresno.
First place winner for the Handcycle marathon was 54 year-old Molly Greene from Sacramento.
It’s a very beautiful thing to see an event for our two cities. Clovis and Fresno need more combined events like this! Thank you to our community and for all of our visitors for showing up to participate or to cheer on the athletes.