Colorado runner Orta wins his third Tropical 5K in prelude to half marathon, marathon
Luis Orta and his Colorado-based group of runners dominated the 2024 Tropical 5K on Saturday, with Orta cruising to his third straight win (14:51) in the early morning race on Miami Beach that serves as a warmup for Sunday’s 22nd annual Life Time Miami Marathon and Half, presented by fp movement.
A former University of Kentucky distance runner (2009-13) and 2016 Venezuelan Olympian, Orta joins local running legend Bryan Huberty as a three-time Tropical 5K winner. Huberty won the event back-to-back from 2014-2017.
The 34-year-old Boulder, Colorado, resident is in Miami for race weekend, as well as an extended month-long training stay.
Fifty-six runners from Orta’s “My Olympic Coach” company will be participating in Sunday’s marathon and half marathon races that wind through Downtown Miami, Miami Beach and Coconut Grove.
The Life Time Miami Marathon and Half will begin Sunday morning at 6 a.m. in similar conditions to the 76-degree elements that Orta conquered Saturday morning.
He had company for more than half of Saturday’s 5K race before switching into a higher gear and was never challenged again.
“I had to push a little harder than I thought,” Orta said. “There was a fast guy in it. But after 3K, I was alone and comfortable. So it was good. I pushed hard this race. You have to work that second half with the [MacArthur Causeway] bridge.’’
Two Puerto Ricans — Diego Moreno Panesso (15:55) and Angel Cruz Texidor (16:34) — were second and third, respectively, while Life Time Miami Marathon and Half elite half marathoner Francisco Morales Casante of Costa Rica (16:37) was fourth in his warmup race.
Bethany Sachtleben, a marathoner training with Orta’s Colorado contingent and running her first 5K in several years, was the first woman to cross the finish line (17:10) while Orta’s wife, Hiruni Wijayaratne, was second (17:58).
“It was my first 5k in a long time,” said Schtleben, 31. “I do marathons and half marathons, but it was fun. It felt short but it was super intense. There were lots of people to run with. I had no idea how I would do. It’s a nice surprise.”
More than 3,000 runners were at the start line of the early-morning point-to-point race that started at Watson Island and finished at the southern tip of South Beach.
The course included 3.1 miles of water-lined views, highlighted by the scenic MacArthur Causeway with its gleaming cruise ships docked at the Port of Miami.
The course also wound through the tree-lined streets of Miami Beach efore ending just north of the iconic Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant.
The day also included a massive Beach Cleanup on South Beach as part of a strong Life Time community impact during Miami Marathon weekend.
The beach cleanup was a collaboration with Clean Miami Beach, a local non-profit dedicated to keeping South Florida habitats free of garbage.
Life Time is also hosting 1,000 Dade County middle school kids in the Life Time Kids Run Miami program on Sunday as they complete the final mile of their 15-week marathon program and is also giving $50,000 to The Education Fund to support the Food Forests for Schools Program in Miami-Dade County Public Schools that will help to instill in children the desire to eat nutritious food while learning to care for the environment.
Orta, who has reached the finish line nearly a minute ahead of the next runner in all three of his Tropical 5K wins, was the first to congratulate Sachtleben on her win.
“That’s my training partner,” he said proudly, “and I’m watching for my wife to finish.”
A former George Mason collegiate runner from Fairfax, Virginia, Sachtleben was visiting Miami for the first time when she arrived in early January.
Her goal is to run “a really fast marathon” and though she isn’t entered in Sunday’s main event, Sachtelben is using the month to train with Orta in far more favorable conditions than the Colorado winter.
“I love Miami so much that we’re going to stay for another month,” she said of her introduction to the city. “I love it here. It’s amazing.”
