CRATER LAKE — Four years ago, Michael Bergquist thought he had the Crater Lake Rim Run Marathon in the bag.

The Airway Heights, Wash., resident led for the vast majority of the grueling 26.2-mile race only to watch Lake Oswego’s Rob Shorock blast past him over the final mile.

Bergquist wasn’t about to let the 28th edition of the nationally acclaimed run get away this time around. The 31-year-old put the hammer down a little more than halfway through Saturday’s race and triumphed in three hours, four minutes and 20 seconds.

Michael Lynes of Tacoma, Wash., finished a distance second in 3:06.59.

Rounding out the top five were Tony Phillippi of Tacoma in 3:28.00; Steve O’Neal of Klamath Falls in 3:35.35; and Alan Alberto of West Des Moines, Iowa in 3:39.01.

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Laura Bleakley of Vacaville, Calif., emerged as the top female runner and was sixth overall in 3:40.36.

In his only previous Crater Lake Marathon appearance, Bergquist generated a big lead over Shorock only to lose it in the final mile of the race.

"I had a huge lead with four miles to go but was pretty worn out and decided to walk for one minute," Bergquist recalls of the 2000 race. "All of a sudden I look around and there he (Shorock) is. And the next thing you know, he’s gone."

Bergquist didn’t make the same faux pas Saturday. He grinded away over the extraordinarily scenic but painfully hilly course and probably would have broken three hours had the brutally steep 24th mile not bogged him down to a slow jog.

"That last hill is a killer," Bergquist said. "It got me, but this time I wasn’t going to stop running. I just kept churning ahead."

Bergquist, who was a sprinter at University High School in Spokane, Wash., turned to triathlons when he was in his early 20s and that has been his sport of choice ever since.

"Triathlons are a lot more interesting and unpredictable (than marathons) because you’ve got three events to complete and most people aren’t super strong in all three," said Bergquist, who took the lead from David Moreno during the 15th mile Saturday. "You can have a four-minute lead coming out of the water and then get killed in the bike race or the run.

"But marathons are a good change of pace."

Despite his loss in 2000, Bergquist was so impressed with the views of Crater Lake that he’s been back five times just to visit. His triathlon schedule makes it tough to run the Crater Lake Marathon but he decided last week that he had to give it another shot.

Lynes, meanwhile, stuck close to Bergquist for the majority of the race. He was within 40 seconds of the eventual winner at the Cloud Cap turnaround — 16 miles in — only to have his left calf cramp up.

Lynes had to stop and massage his leg for more than a minute, and that allowed Bergquist to pull away.

Lynes finished fifth at the United States Track Federation 50-mile national championship race on July 31 at White River, Wash., and probably needed another week to completely charge his batteries.

"I’m on vacation down here and wasn’t going to race, but I talked my wife into it," Lynes said. "I would have gone on a training run, anyway."

Bleakley, the 34-year-old women’s winner, has gone on a running binge since her husband, Jeff, was sent overseas to work on Air Force medical flights that pick up wounded American soldiers in Iraq and fly them to Germany.

"I’ve got three boys at home and running is my outlet and my therapy," said Bleakley, who completed her fourth marathon in 112 days Saturday. "It gives me something to look forward to until he (Jeff) comes home."

In the 13.1-mile half-marathon event, Trevor Hanlin of Grants Pass won for the second straight year, clocking 1:23.53, while Oregon Tech student James Addison claimed the 6.7-mile run in 39:36.

The women’s winners in the shorter events were Liz Lindgren, a former Klamath Union High and current Arizona State runner who clocked 39:56 in the 6.7-mile run and Lorilynn Bloomer, a former Purdue University runner and current Beaverton resident who hit the half-marathon tape in 1:35.05.

Addison had planned to run the half-marathon but fatigue set in and he decided to cut his day short.

"I was running with Trevor (Hanlin) and he told me that the next five miles (after the 6.7-mile finish line) were uphill," Addison said. "I thought, this is a good place to stop."

MARATHON RESULTS

(Listing name, age, hometown and time)

1, Michael Bergquist, 31, Airway Heights, Wash., 3:04.20; 2, Michael Lynes, 38, Tacoma, Wash., 3:06.59; 3, Tony Phillippi, 42, Tacoma, Wash., 3:28.00; 4, Stephen O’Neal, 46, Klamath Falls, 3:35.35; 5, Alan Alberto, West Des Moines, Iowa, 3:39.01; 6, Laura Bleakley, 34, Vacaville, Calif., 3:40.36; 7, Christopher Warren, 37, Renton, Wash., 3:40.40; 8, Steven Yee, 45, Renton, Wash., 3:40.40; 9, Victor Lumbreras, 34, Phoenix, 3:45.14; 10, Neil Zingg, 37, Klamath Falls, 3:50.50.

11, David Moreno, 26, Chiloquin, 3:55.29; 12, Kaitlyn Vansant, 27, Seattle, Wash., 3:55.37; 13, Martin Balding, 67, Susanville, Calif., 3:55.49; 14, Jim Petton, 29, Mannesville, N.Y., 3:57.32; 15, Rick Hofar, Florence, 50, 4:03.46; 16, Tim Butler, 56, West Linn, 4:05.28; 17, Tracy Dutson, 40, Bend, 4:05.28; 18, Leigh Nowning, 33, Salem, 4:06.17; 19, Margie Retterath, 48, Klamath Falls, 4:07.17; 20, Rachelle Stevenson, 48, Roanoke, Ala.

Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com