Sunday was a warm, cloudless day in Los Angeles, and more than 25,000 runners were gathered at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in the early morning.
The first wave of male runners stood at the yellow start line, bouncing around and shaking out their limbs. It was less than a minute until the 26.2-mile race began.
At the front of the pack, Nathan Martin—adorned in royal blue ASICS running garb with a bib marked 34— shifted his weight from foot-to-foot. He fiddled with his watch; the face was turned in at the bottom of his wrist. Polarized sunglasses crowned Martin’s head.
The Jackson High School cross country coach and substitute teacher is no stranger to races. Martin ran for Spring Arbor University and later was in the 2016 and 2020 Olympic time trials, according to Fox 2 Detroit.
A horn blares.
“The professional men’s race is underway!” yelled an announcer. “The chase is on, as well as the beginning of the ASICS Los Angeles Marathon! Runners, good luck out there, you’re going to crush it.”
Martin and the other runners raced through the City of Angels, winding around iconic neighborhoods like Chinatown, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Spectators, DJs, dragon dancers and mariachi bands lined the route, cheering the athletes on.
At the 19 mile mark, Martin was down a minute and 53 seconds from first.
In the final stretch of the race, a runner in red—Kenya’s Michael Kamau—led by yards. No one else was in the drone camera’s eye.
At just over the two hour and 11 minute mark and with the finish line in sight, Jackson’s Martin came into view, nearly in a sprint. The Michigan native appeared too far away to overcome Kamau.
Cowbells and cheers rang out over the crowd packed in by the finish line at Avenue of the Stars in Century City.
In a photo-finish, Martin broke through the tape, beating Kamau by less than a second.
Martin then jogged a few feet past the line. As he slowed to a walk, people at the end of the tunnel wrapped the American flag around his shoulders. Salt stains from sweat streaked Martin’s cheeks and neck, and his sunglasses still rested on his head as he caught his breath.
NBC reported that this was the closest finish in the history of the LA Marathon, with both runners clocked in at a 2:11:18 end time.
During the medal ceremony, with the stars and stripes still draped over his shoulders and a flashy gold medal around his neck, Martin told a reporter he knew he could win the race from the beginning.
“A mile to go, I started to see the pace card and the lead guy and thought ‘We’ll see what happens,’” Martin said. “800 [meters] to go, I have to go for it, I have to at least try, and things worked out.”
Jackson High School will be hosting a celebration on Thursday at 2 p.m. in front of the school.
