MISSOULA — Mark Messmer and Bailee Parker-Godfrey brought different experience levels to the 2025 Missoula Marathon.
Messmer, a Missoula native who now lives in the Denver area, had won the past five men’s marathons. Parker-Godfrey was running in the event for just the second time and placed third in her previous attempt.
But both had similar goals entering Sunday’s race.
“This one’s always an 'A' race, so it’s definitely a priority on my list (of races),” Messmer said. “Goal No. 1 is to win.”
“I love to compete, so I was definitely shooting for the podium,” Parker-Godfrey said. “But I saw the other times of the elite girls going in and I was like, ‘Oh man, I don’t know,’ but yeah, I wanted to win it.”
Both runners accomplished their top goals. Messmer pulled away to win the men’s race in a time of 2 hours, 21 minutes, 12 seconds, finishing nearly 10 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Patrick Hutton of Flagstaff, Ariz. Ellis McKean of San Francisco was third with a time of 2:33:42.
Parker-Godfrey, who grew up and still lives in West Yellowstone, settled into second place for much of the race but overtook Kari Hamilton of Pullman, Wash., in the final two miles to win her first Missoula Marathon. Parker-Godfrey finished in 2:48:01, 40 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Annie Richards of Boone, N.C., placed third with a time of 2:50:17.
“I couldn’t see her at all for the whole race,” Parker-Godfrey said of Hamilton. “And then I saw the lead bike, and I was like, ‘Oh, I can get it.’”
With Hamilton in her sights, Parker-Godfrey said she was able to find an extra gear to close out the race.
Watch Interview with Bailee Parker-Godfrey:
“I don’t know how,” she said, “because the last six miles are pretty grueling.”
Those final six miles or so are when the body starts to break down, according to Messmer, who ended up running much of the race alone. He set out at a fast pace and was in the lead throughout.
Messmer, the now six-time winner of the race, was competing as much with himself as he was with the field. In addition to winning, his next goals were to finish in a personal-best time and then break the course record.
Watch Mark Messmer Interview Here:
This year’s 2:21:12 was an improvement on last year’s winning time (2:21:33) but still just behind the course record of 2:20:27 set by Matthew Adams in 2014.
“I realize as I’m getting older that I can’t take this for granted, for sure,” Messmer said. “I mean, it’s getting harder and harder to do and to stay healthy, and every training block has its challenges, whether that’s a different injury that pops up or life gets in the way.
“So it definitely gets more challenging to stay at this level, but it feels good. I can never complain about wins, for sure.”
Prior to transitioning to the full marathon, Messmer used to participate in the half-marathon. Hailing from Missoula, he’s seen the growth and evolution of the Garden City’s flagship race.
“It's so special, to be honest,” he said. “There's so many people out — the whole community, the whole state of Montana, it feels like. And then, nationwide, it's very well-known.”
“I’ve been running in Missoula for a lot of years, so I love running here,” Parker-Godfrey added. “The support on the course was awesome and made the miles go by really fast. Missoula is a great running community, great community in general, so I love it here.”
