A Michigan high school cross country coach has won the 2026 ASICS Los Angeles Marathon in a close finish.
Nathan Martin, who splits his time between coaching young athletes and competing on the elite marathon circuit, narrowed a 26.2-mile lead to beat Kenya’s Michael Kamau by a mere fraction of a second Sunday, according to the race website.
After trailing Kamau, Martin found a second wind in the final mile of the race. He caught up to Kamau just hundreds of yards from the finish line on Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City.
“I definitely thought it’d be awesome to win but I knew that wasn’t in my control, what was though was giving what I had in the day and seeing what that kind of produced,” he said. “When I saw an opportunity where winning looks like it’s a real shot, then I went for it.
“An opportunity opened up around 5 miles, so I surged a bit and no one went with me and at that point I’m like, ‘It’s time to fight and give what I have and if I fight hard and end up third, then, so be it because I planned to grind at this point and that’s what I’m going to do,'” Martin told The Detroit News.
He said his mindset going into the race was to believe in himself and give 100% effort, which is a principle he tries to teach to the young athletes he works with.
But during the race, he had a roller coaster of emotions he had to battle through.
“It’s one of those things where it’s just up and down. Some moments you feel amazing and other moments you’re like Oh my goodness. I still have 15 miles to go,” Martin said. “I knew conditions were going to be pretty rough so I wanted to be smart and just be able to fight with the leaders and really give myself an opportunity to be able to race the last 6 miles.”
When Martin realized he was catching up to Kamau in the last mile, he began to believe more and more that he could win the title.
“With 800 to go, I’m like, I have to give what I have here and push and see what happens. Right around 100 to go, I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, I might be able to catch this guy.’ I surged as hard as I could and was able to kind of pull it off,” he said.
Both runners clocked an official time of 2:11:18 (with reports indicating Martin won by 0.01 seconds in 2:11:16.50). As Martin sprinted across the line to take the win, Kamau collapsed and required medical attention.
Martin is the head cross country coach and district’s coach who helps run large events at Jackson High School in Michigan.
Chris Hoover, athletic director at the school, said the school is excited that Martin not only won, but “won in such dramatic fashion, showing grit and determination.”
“He is a top-tier person, not just an elite world-class athlete, he’s also an elite human being,” Hoover said. “He coaches our kids the same way, and we are so lucky to have him in training in Jackson.”
His colleague said Martin has a past of running trials and winning other marathons.
“You can’t drive across Jackson without seeing him training. He’s constantly training, he’s running everywhere he goes,” Hoover said.
Martin added he tries to instill to teens to “not tie their success to a result but the efforts they put in,” he said.
School officials celebrated the win on social media.
“Congratulations to Coach Martin on an incredible race and an inspiring win on one of the biggest stages in distance running!” a Facebook post from the Jackson High School Vikings said.
mjohnson@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan coach wins LA Marathon in dramatic last-second finish
Reporting by Myesha Johnson, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
