Scott Wietecha gets three-peat at Country Music Marathon

For links to full race results, scroll to the bottom.

Scott Wietecha stopped worrying about the weather at the start of the St. Jude Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon Saturday and it wasn't because the skies suddenly cleared.

That's when Wietecha spotted Kenyan runner Geoffrey Kiptoo, who had taken the early lead in the 16th annual race, which began downtown and finished at LP Field.

Kiptoo threatened to keep Wietecha from a three-peat in the race, which had a total of about 30,000 runners competing in the marathon, half marathon and 5K.

After trailing Kiptoo for the first 15 miles, however, Wietecha finally swiped the lead at mile 15 and when Kiptoo started to cramp at Mile 20, Wietecha coasted the rest of the way to claim his third consecutive Country Music Marathon victory.

The 33-year-old physical education teacher from Hendersonville became the only runner to win three titles by posting a time of 2:23:39.

That was faster than his 2014 time (2:25:52), but slower than his 2013 time (2:22:41).

"I was a little bit nervous in the first half of the race," Wietecha said. "I didn't want the Kenyan to get too far ahead of me because I didn't want my (students), who were watching on television, to start freaking out. (Kiptoo) wanted me to help with the pace and kept asking me to pick it up. But I know if you go to a steakhouse you don't fill up on bread and water. You've got to have enough left over to enjoy your steak, so I just took my time and stayed back."

Melanie Kulesz, 23, of Oak Ridge was the top female finisher in the marathon in 3:04:34.

The top male finisher in the half marathon was Roosevelt Cook, 35, of Oak Hills (1:10:23) and the top female was Lauren Versweyveld, 26, of Fort Worth, Texas (1:21:07).

Wietecha was comfortable allowing Kiptoo to remain in the lead because he knew the most grueling part of the race, where most of the hills are located, was coming up. And he knew Kiptoo did not do well on hills.

"I raced him in February in a little dinky half marathon in Lebanon," Wietecha said. "I was hoping there to put it in cruise control, but he made me work hard. When we were there he would struggle on the hills a little bit and I noticed he was struggling on the hills again today. He fell back between miles 15 to 18 and that is a tough, tough stretch. So I knew I could build up a lead there."

By the time the two runners reached East Nashville, Kiptoo was in trouble.

"It was easy to lose him there," said Wietecha, who has now completed 11 marathons.

Kiptoo, 29, finished more than 10 minutes behind Wietecha in 2:33:57.

"I was not aware of the course; I thought it was flat, but it was so hilly," Kiptoo said. "I found that it was a very tough course. Next time I'll do better."

Kiptoo admitted he ran too fast for the first 20 miles.

The muscle cramps in his legs made it difficult for him to finish. After crossing the finish line Kiptoo was rushed to the medical tent for treatment.

"That forced me to slow down," Kiptoo said. "I did my best just to finish."

It was the eighth marathon Kiptoo has completed.

Wietecha, who finished second in the marathon in 2011, committed to running next year's race.

"Winning for a third time is definitely an awesome experience," Wietecha said. "I'll try to do it again next year. I'm sure it'll be tough. I'll be a year older, a year more senile, but we'll see how it goes."

After hitting the wall midway through the marathon, Kulesz used the support of the two bicycle riders accompanying her to push through the back half of Nashville's hill-filled course and win her first marathon in just her second try.

"I was really tired at the end," Kulesz said. "The first half was great and then I just hit a wall. (Mile) 14 and on kind of felt a little hard, but the last five were brutal. I was really thankful for my two bikers. They were so great and the crowd was so nice and encouraging."

in the half-marathon, Cook ran conservatively since he was unfamiliar with the course. The only thing he knew was that there were hills, so he started off at a moderate pace.

"I only led for the last two miles or so," Cook said. "It's like NASCAR; it doesn't matter how many laps you lead, it's the last one that matters. I'm a NASCAR fan."

New to Nashville and its hills, Versweyveld rallied on crowd support while enjoying the city's sights and sounds and ran by herself to avoid distractions finishing with a pace of 6:10 per mile.

"I knew it was going to be hilly so I went in looking to work hard," Versweyveld said. " It was hilly but whatever goes up must come down. I knew if I was going up this hill, there's got to be a downhill somewhere, too."

More than 27,000 runners competed in the 2015 Country Music Full and Half Marathons. See how you finished by clicking the links below and then searching our database of 2015 results. If you are reading this article on your phone, please select the mobile-friendly version.

Full Marathon:

- Men

- Women

- Men (mobile-friendly version)

- Women (mobile-friendly version)

Half Marathon:

- Men

- Women

- Men (mobile-friendly version)

- Women (mobile-friendly version)

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.