Brigham Young University students, faculty and alumni added their numbers to the over 5000 runners competing in the St. George Marathon last Saturday, with at least 13 from BYU's ranks qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

Chauncy Brinton, 28, a senior from Salt Lake City majoring in psychology, qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3 hours, 1 minute and 23 seconds. In order to qualify for the marathon, runners ages 18 to 34 must run the 26.2 miles in under 3 hours and 10 minutes.

"It felt really good to qualify for the Boston, because that's like the marathon of all marathons," Brinton said. "That's kind of been my goal in running. Once I run the Boston, I think I will be satisfied."

Brinton plans to begin training again for another marathon in January in preparation for the Boston Marathon, which will take place April 21, 2008.

Although Iain Hunter, 36, an assistant professor of exercise science, has running experience as a member of the BYU track team from 1989 to 1996, he had never ran a marathon before, he said.

Hunter began training about a year before the actual race took place. During training, he averaged about 85 miles per week, he said.

"The actual race was not really so much this meaningful experience, where I learned a whole lot about myself," Hunter said. "It was more that year of training, and running with friends and doing the trip down there with my family. That's probably where I learned the most."

Hunter, qualified with a time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 57 seconds, just 57 seconds shy of the Men's Marathon Olympic time trial qualifications.

Dave Murphy, 25, president of the BYU running club, ran the marathon with Brinton, and finished the race in 3 hours and 5 minutes.

"All kinds of people run marathons. It's amazing to me the different body types, and ages and types of people that run," Murphy said of his experience. "They come from everywhere, all kinds of walks of life and it's a beautiful thing to be able to see that."

The St. George Marathon is held annually during the month of October. Runners begin at 6:45 a.m. at an elevation of 5,228 feet in the Pine Valley Mountains. The course extends 26.2 miles to Worthern Park in the center of St. George. This year, 5,154 runners finished the race.