This year’s Life Time Miami Marathon was a sold-out event with 18,493 registered runners. Something of a local rite of passage, over 8,000 of these runners were South Florida residents. While people of many abilities, ages, genders, and nationalities ran the races, it takes something special to be the first man or woman over the finish line.
We connected with a few of the elite winners from the full and half marathons to find out what it took to come in first and what, in their mind, makes the Miami Marathon a special international race.
Full Marathon 1st Place Female - Aydee Loayza Huaman, age 25, of Lima, Peru
Time: 2:46:54
Aydee Loayza Huaman is an established world-class trail runner and the first female athlete from South America to complete the 44K Trail Running World Championship race (she finished 9th in 2019). She also finished 4th in the 2019 Lima Half Marathon.
Q: What was the number one thing that helped you cross the finish line?
A: The strength, courage and faith in myself. I was also focused in [sic] my family and what this will mean for them too. I also thought about all of the Peruvians who trusted me and supported me to get to Miami: the Peru Runner's team and their ONG Chaki Wayra. I thought about my training and all of the effort I put into each of those training days… and the passion I feel for running.
Q: What makes the Miami Marathon special?
A: The amount of people who participate, run for love, passion and for fun. I loved that I could run next to so many beautiful locations, next to the sea; with a bright sun on top of my head and happiness everywhere I went. I also think it is very important to highlight the races [sic] hydration system, everything they did was very good and organized, since [sic] the time I arrived in the morning to the time I got back to my recovery massages and had a nice meal.
Half Marathon 1st Place Male Dominic Korir, age 26, of Kericho Kenya
Time: 1:03:52
Dominic Korir entered the 2020 Miami Half Marathon as the defending runner-up. After his 2nd place finish in Miami last year, Dominic went on to place 3rd in the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K and 4th in the B.A.A. Boston Half Marathon – among other races he ran in 2019.
Q: What was the number one thing that helped you cross the finish line?
A: Knowing the course. I ran it last year and this year was going to be mine. I owned it and came out as the winner.
Q: What makes the Miami Marathon special?
A: The organizers, the local community, the runners and the energy that Miami brings out from everyone. I will be back again next year.
Half Marathon 1st Place Female Beatie Deutsch, age 30, of Jerusalem, Israel
Time: 1:16:4
Beatie is well known as the ‘Marathon Mother.‘ Less than three years after she started competitively running, Beatie Deutsch won the 2019 Tiberias Marathon, the 2019 Riga Half Marathon, the 2019 Tel Aviv Half Marathon and the Israeli Half Marathon Championships.
Q: What was the number one thing that helped you cross the finish line?
I was really motivated to win for my country, Israel and the Jewish community. Miami is a race that attracts a lot of Jews from all over and there are several big Jewish charities that have teams that run there. It was really important for me to be able to proudly represent Israel and what it means to be an Orthodox Jewish woman on the podium. It was my first time racing in the States and I felt a certain sense of responsibility to my community.
Q: What makes the Miami Marathon special?
Miami was special for me because of the beautiful scenery, the large percentage of Jewish runners (I loved hearing Jewish music on the course), and the incredible atmosphere and organization!
We congratulate all of the winners of the 2020 Miami Marathon and Half Marathon as well as all of the participants who crushed their own personal goals.
