It’s a Gasparilla half-marathon hat trick for Christina Welsh

TAMPA — Christina Welsh was surprised, maybe a little disappointed and definitely more motivated on Saturday night.

The USF graduate student in marine biology had won the 15K at the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic the past two years. She was a favorite coming into the race Saturday, but finished a distant second to aspiring Olympian Bethany Sachtleben.

So Sunday morning, as Welsh lined up to start the defense of her half-marathon title, she wasn’t taking any chances.

The New Jersey native won her third straight crown here, finishing the 13.1-mile race in 1 hour, 18 minutes, 28 seconds. She finished almost three minutes ahead of Tampa’s Paige Howard, 36, who ran it in 1:21.16. It was the same one-two finish as the 2023 half-marathon.

But for Welsh, who now resides in St. Petersburg, this felt like a different race.

“Last year I won the 15K and (Saturday) I came in second. So I ran the half a little harder than I had previously,” the 27-year-old said. “I was a little more motivated and I think this is the fastest time I’ve ever run on this course.” It was indeed; her winning time in 2022 was 1:18:55 and last year was 1:21:17.

With this being an Olympic year, the Distance Classic 15K and half-marathon appeared to draw a few more elite runners. Sachtleben, a former Pan-Am Games silver medalist, came in from Colorado with training partner Luis Orta, the men’s 15K champ, as part of her preparations for the U.S. Olympic Trials. She beat Welsh by more than two minutes Saturday.

“This race has been really fast, but in the past couple of years, there hasn’t been a ton of, like, outside people coming in for it,” said Welsh, “so I didn’t totally expect it.”

Welsh has included the Gasparilla events in her training schedule the last couple of years because she loves the running community in Tampa Bay and enjoys the fun and festive atmosphere.

Sunday, however, she was a little more serious about defending her title.

“I think in previous years, the half has been more like ‘I won the 15K yesterday, now I’m just going to have a good time,’ ” she said. “But this year, I lost. So I think I took the half as more of a race than I usually do.”

Welsh has entered a new chapter in her running life after having spent three years preparing to compete in the U.S. Olympic team marathon trials.

She ran a personal-best 2:33:08 in the 2022 Houston Marathon, which qualified her for the 2024 trials. Last year, she was using the back-to-back 15K and half-marathon at Gasparilla as part of her build up.

The marathon trials were earlier this month in Orlando. Welsh ran a 2:39:44, finishing 60th overall in the women’s field.

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“I did OK; I finished about where I was ranked going in,” Welsh said. “I was happy with that.”

She did not qualify for the U.S. Olympic marathon team, so now she moves on to other challenges.

“It really doesn’t change much for me. I am going to run another marathon, I just haven’t picked it out yet,” Welsh said. “I am still going to run and there will always be another marathon to train for.”