Seattle Marathon 2015 Results: Men's and Women's Top Rock 'n' Roll Finishers

Seattle is known for many things, but its contribution to sports and music are near the top of the list. The city wisely combined the two for the annual Rock 'n' Roll Marathon that took place on Saturday and was won by Paul Katam in two hours, 26 minutes and 15 seconds on the men's side and Anna Corrigan in two hours, 54 minutes and 56 seconds on the women's side. 

The Emerald City is a marathon hot bed, with another one set for November, but the Rock 'n' Roll version serves as the unofficial start of summer with more than 17,000 total participants lining the streets for the different events on tap. 

Here's how things shook out in the main race on the men's and women's side:

Men's Results	Time	Women's Results	Time
Paul Katam (Beaverton)	2:26:15	Anna Corrigan (Phoenix)	2:54:56
Bill Condon (Seattle)	2:40:41	Z. Sophia Liu (Redmond)	2:57:17
Jesse Stevick (Olympia)	2:42:11	Kristina Brendzel (Bainbridge)	3:05:45
Scott Lawrence (Seattle)	2:45:38	Lacey Way (Auburn)	3:14:10
Seth Bernsten (Seattle)	2:49:49	Maia Paris (Los Angeles)	3:15:40
Antonio Roque (Lynnwood)	2:50:37	Amy Shohet (San Carlos)	3:17:29
Marlon Stubbs (Bellevue)	2:52:52	Emily Hazen (Richland)	3:18:09
Jonathan Bussiere (Seattle)	2:53:24	Kerri Badeau (Seattle)	3:21:33
Kevin Dean (Portland)	2:57:32	Gesa Gaiser (Erlinsbach)	3:24:08
Nobuyori Takeda (New York)	2:58:54	Laura Shore (Puyallup)	3:25:11

Full results can be found by clicking here. 

Because marathons regularly start early in the morning, while most of the regular world is asleep or just waking up, the organizers in Seattle like to make sure everyone is wide awake by kicking things off with a grand fireworks display at the Space Needle, via Chocolate Milk:

Scenes of Seattle posted a photo of the crowd gathering at the opening line for the half marathon before the fireworks went off:

"

At http://t.co/6i86IGB9qr -- Seattle Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon #stilltraining #halfmarathon #adveture #travel #… pic.twitter.com/xyem7j0RZm

— Scenes from Seattle (@ScenesfromSeatt) June 13, 2015"

Once everyone got started, Katam and Corrigan left no doubt they were the runners to beat on the men's and women's side of the full marathon. 

Katam got off to a blazing start, finishing five kilometres in 15 minutes and 52 seconds with a mile-pace of five minutes and 35 seconds. He continued at that speed for the entire 26.2-mile trek, finishing more than 14 minutes ahead of runner-up Bill Condon. 

A Kenya native, Katam has one of the most fascinating backstories of anyone in the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.

Eddie Wooten of the News and Record wrote in 2014 that Katam was named an All-Southern Conference academic honoree and a first-team NCAA honoree in track while attending North Carolina-Greensboro before joining the United States Army to raise money so he could finish college and go to graduate school. 

"The Army is going to pay for me to finish my undergrad and to go to graduate school," Katam told Wooten. 

There are so many human interest stories like Katam's that often come out of a marathon event like this. He was one of the best college runners in the country and now has a major marathon win under his belt, but the 24-year-old has bigger plans for himself that deserve to be acknowledged and applauded. 

Just as Katam flew out of the gate, Corrigan went wire-to-wire in securing the best time for the women. The Phoenix native did have more competition than Katam, as Z. Sophia Liu finished less than three minutes behind the winner. 

As impressive as Katam and Corrigan were in their respective runs, neither finished faster than last year's champions, per Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times: "Drew Polley, 28, of Pullman won the men’s marathon title last year, finishing in 2 hours 24 minutes, 51 seconds," Evans wrote. "Californian Devon Yanko, 31, won the women’s marathon title with a time of 2:51:18."

Regardless of the pace, Katam and Corrigan have every reason to be thrilled with what they accomplished on Saturday. Marathons have become huge events in this country and being able to finish one, let alone cross the finish line first, is a massive accomplishment. 

Every runner who finished deserves a standing ovation. It takes a lot of work to get your body prepared for the grind of a long run, but the actual day of the event provides a moment where everything goes right or falls apart. 

Now the participants can sit back, relax and enjoy the sounds of Rock 'n' Roll music in the place that birthed bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.