St. George • Provo's Jonathan Kotter turned the 35th annual St. George Marathon into a lonely run through the southern Utah desert.

A graduate of Alta High School and BYU, Kotter pulled away over the final 8 miles Saturday morning and easily won with a time of 2:24.43.

Pepi Peterson of Hudson, Mass., was the runnerup for the second consecutive year. He finished almost two minutes behind the winner.

"Just a fantastic day for me," Kotter said. "I felt good, I was happy about finishing well and my family was here. So it was a great experience."

Almost 7,500 runners from 49 states and 10 foreign countries competed in the marathon, which is the 13th largest in the United States.

The race was run under partly cloudy skies, in rapidly warming temperatures.

Other winners included Rosanna Lee of Mountain Green, Utah, who took the women's division in 2:44, and Jay Conway of Butte, Mont., who won the hand-crank division in 1:01.20.

Kotter was the star of this show, however, after a dominating performance.

He ran much of the race alongside former BYU cross-country teammate Iain Hunter, falling back just once briefly near the 16-mile mark.

"I had some stomach problems about halfway through and had to take an unexpected pit stop," Kotter said. "So I went from first to second place. But luckily I rallied and held through the finish."

Hunter, the 2009 St. George Marathon champion, eventually faded to fourth in 2:29.43 after struggling with side cramps late in the race.

"We talked about strategy beforehand," Kotter said. "We planned to run a lot of it together — encouraging each other. I was disappointed see him have that cramp. It was hard for him to finish up."

As a college senior in 2010, he qualified for the NCAA championships.

Kotter credits the tutoring of BYU's Ed Eyestone for helping him make the successful transition from cross-country to marathoning.

"Training-wise, I just put in more miles, more intervals," he said. "Coach Eyestone has done a great job of supporting me. It's been a lot of fun."

For many runners in the field, the most important competition didn't come from other runners.

It came from within — doing their absolute best over 26 grueling miles and an elevation drop of 3,000 feet.

Justin Park of Sandy finished sixth in the overall standings with a time of 2:29.43, but none of the other runners could have been more pleased with their result.

"I was shooting for a sub-2:30," Park said. "I have never run below 2:30 before. ... I've been chasing a sub-2:30 for about eight years now and I finally got it. I couldn't be more excited."

According to Park, the weather "was a little warm. But I was able to hold it together. ... I love this race, the course and the organization. I love everything about it." —

Results of the 2011 St. George Marathon:

Men

1. Jonathan Kotter, Provo, 2:24:43

2. Pepi Peterson, Hudson, Mass., 2:26:43

3. Benjamin Van Beekum, Harrisville, 2:28:47

4. Iain Hunter, Provo, 2:29:10

5. Jordan C. Perry, Provo, 2:29:28

Women

1. Rosanna Lee, Mountain Green, 2:44:00

2. Laura A. Portis, Nashville, Tenn., 2:45:25

3. Julie Thomas, Salt Lake City, 2:50:05

4. Christi H. Webb, Farmington, N.M., 2:50:26

5. Danielle Johnson, Orem, 2:51:29

• See more results in scoreboard, S8