Former Grinnell Cross Country Runner is First NYC Woman to Finish in the New York City Marathon

Though Alosha Southern’s ‘17 final season with the Grinnell Cross Country team ended in 2016, she has remained a serious runner well past her time at Grinnell. On Nov. 5, Southern completed the New York City Marathon alongside more than 51 thousand runners. Southern’s finished the marathon in an impressive 2:48:38 with an average mile pace of 6:26, making her the first woman from New York City to finish the race, the seventh U.S. woman and 23rd woman overall.  

Head Women’s Cross Country Coach Sarah Burnell was training partners with Southern for a year when they were both students on the Grinnell Cross Country team. 

“I was thrilled to see Alosha's performance in the NYC marathon; 2:48 is a great marathon time and a huge accomplishment,” Burnell said. “Alosha was an amazing runner and teammate when we ran together in college, so it's fun to see that she's still engaging in the sport and growing into the next level of her running.” 

The NYC Marathon, with 51,402 finishers in 2023, is the world’s largest marathon, attracting top athletes from across the world. This year, several former Olympians competed in the NYC marathon, including a number of Olympic medalists. The top women’s time, earned by Olympic medalist Hellen Obiri from Kenya, was 2:27:23, and the average women’s finishing time was 4:56:12. Southern, now 28, finished less than 22 minutes behind Obiri.  

Burnell hopes that other Grinnell runners can follow Southern’s example and continue to enjoy running long after graduating from Grinnell.  

“A big piece of my coaching philosophy is to instill a love for the sport and build on the joy that running can bring,” Burnell said. “I want my runners to leave Grinnell having enjoyed their running experience and time with their teammates and wanting to continue running and finding connections with others through it.”