enlarge Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Heather Pagano of Portland nears the finish line to capture the women’s title in the Maine Marathon, her first 26.2-mile race.

TOP FINISHERS

Marathon, female

1. Heather Pagano, 3:06:54

2. Samantha Johnson, 3:08:38

3. Jenna Bolduc-Desrochers, 3:14:14

Marathon, male

1. Art Siemers, 2:28:24

2. Matt Dunlap, 2:36:45

3. Casey Carroll, 2:36:56

Half Marathon, female

1. Carry Buterbaugh, 1:22:20

2. Erin Flynn, 1:25:05

3. Amanda Labelle, 1:26:27

Half Marathon, male

1. Evan Graves, 1:09:30

2. Nicholas Wheeler, 1:10:20

3. Jeff Sprague, 1:11:11

For a complete list of results, click here.

They dropped to the pavement nearly 40 minutes apart, a few yards past the finish line of the 17th Peak Performance Maine Marathon Sunday morning, one overcome with exhaustion and the other with emotion.

Art Siemers of Golden, Colo., and Heather Pagano of Portland earned their laurel wreaths as men's and women's champions of the 26.2-mile foot race that begins near Portland's Back Cove and travels to Yarmouth before returning to Baxter Boulevard.

It was the debut marathon for Pagano, 26, who fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands after finishing in 3 hours, 6 minutes, 54 seconds – more than a minute and a half before anyone else in the women's field.

"It was overwhelming," Pagano said. "I thought, 'Oh my God, I actually won my first marathon.' It was pretty cool to break the tape. That made it real. I put my arms up, then said, 'OK, I'm done. I'm going down.'"

For Siemers, 36, remaining upright seemed less of an option. He had blazed through the halfway point in 71 minutes, a time only two runners in the concurrent Maine Half Marathon managed to beat, and through 22 miles was on pace to break the course record by 3 minutes.

"Then I hit the wall," he said. "I barely made it in. I had to walk."

Siemers finally reached the tape in 2:28:24, took a few hesitant steps across a pair of blue timing mats, then put his right hand on the boulevard and rolled onto his back. He lay there until two volunteers pulled him to a sitting position, hoisted him to his feet and assisted him out of the chute area.

"This course is a lot hillier than it appears," Siemers said later, left arm cradling a bouquet of roses. "I don't feel so bad now, but that last four miles was everything I had. It was survival. With three miles to go I was doing 7- or 8-minute miles. I was really in bad shape."

Siemers is the track and cross country coach at Colorado School of Mines, a nationally ranked NCAA Division II program. He had run in Maine previously at the 2000 Maine Distance Festival in Brunswick, where a high school runner, Ryan Hall, edged him at 1,500 meters. Hall, now 25, finished 10th in marathon at the Beijing Olympics after winning the U.S. trials.

Siemers said he reached his peak in 1999 when he placed eighth in the mile (4:01) at the U.S. indoor championships. His marathon debut came in 2002 with a 2:18:51, but two subsequent races resulted in a 2:30 and 2:32.

"My goal was to break 2:24," Siemers said. "At 22 (miles), I thought I had the course record in the bag, by 2 or 3 minutes."

Instead of flying home with a bonus of $1,000 for breaking the course record (2:26:54 by 2007 winner Dan Vassallo), Siemers had to settle for the winner's prize money of $500. He said it was enough to pay for his trip east.

"It was a great experience," he said. "The course is beautiful. The people here are very nice. I had a great time."

In the battle for second place, 2008 Bates College graduate Matt Dunlap outkicked 2003 champion Casey Carroll of Dover, N.H. They came through Payson Park together, but Dunlap pulled away on Baxter Boulevard, finishing in 2:36:45 to Carroll's 2:36:56.

Like Siemers, Dunlap and Carroll are cross country coaches. Dunlap is an assistant at Greely High in Cumberland, and Carroll is women's coach at the University of New Hampshire.

"I would never think about doing (a marathon) in college or high school," Dunlap said. "It takes too much out of you. I'm going to find out just how much over the next couple days."

Like Dunlap, Pagano said she enjoyed her first attempt at 26.2 miles, particularly on a gorgeous fall morning with Halloween decorations starting to sprout in front yards, though not nearly as prolifically as the annual crop of political signs. Inscribed in black marker from her left wrist to elbow were 20 miles worth of splits at 7 and 7:30 pace. She fit the final six miles on her right...