CITY FOCUS:Joy and sadness at the finish line

Nathan Zehngut is a pretty tough guy.

He ran his first race Sunday. Not just any race, but the 2007 OC Marathon.

And he did it on a broken foot.

Oh, and did we mention he’s 8? That’s right — 8 years old.

Just weeks before Sunday’s marathon, the Huntington Beach boy fell off an 8-foot wall, shattering his ankle.

The Hope View Elementary School third-grader was devastated, having trained with about 130 of his classmates for the run since November. Nathan, determined to run, continued training as best he could with his bum foot..

Nathan’s mom Kelley Zehngut made T-shirts for all the kids running with him, calling them the Humpty Dumpty team.

Nathan came in last, but it was pretty impressive he made it at all.

“I crutched it the whole way,” Nathan said.

“I didn’t think he would make it, but he did,” Kelley Zehngut said. “He was the last kid to cross, but the crowd went crazy, and it made me a little teary.”

In its third year, the 2007 OC Marathon drew nearly 13,000 racers from nine countries and 47 states — almost 1,000 more runners than last year. Sadly, though, one of its runners died. Larry Altneu, 45, of Anaheim Hills, collapsed at the finish line Sunday and died later at Irvine Medical Center in Irvine.

The race started at 7:30 a.m. The runners followed a course from the East Side of the county through Tustin, ending at the Irvine Spectrum Center.

It was “amazing” watching the thousands of runners leave the starting line and go over the hill on San Miguel Drive, beginning their 26.2-mile journey, Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky said.

“We’re proud to be a sponsor of the marathon and see it start in Newport Beach,” Rosansky said. “It would be nice to see it finish here one day, too. I am envious of those people that have the physical capability to accomplish that.”

In its first two years, the event brought in more than $800,000 for 11 children’s charities. The donations from this year are still being counted. For race director Bill Sumner, who also coaches track and cross-country at Corona del Mar High School, it was a good day.

“The weather behaved for about the first four hours, then things began to heat up,” he said.

Sumner is already working on the 2008 marathon.

“Anytime we do something, I am the first one to say, ‘How can we do it better?’ ” Sumner said.

Competitors were still crossing the finish line a little before 5 p.m. Sunday. The warmer-than-usual temperatures did little to dishearten runners this year, as the first-place winners for men and women both had finishing times that qualified them for the Olympic trials.

Cristian Hesch, 28, of Morro Bay, came in first with a time of 2:21:18, and Mary Akor, 30, of Gardena finished first for the women at 2:46:05.

Hesch was a crowd pleaser, coming in so far ahead of the pack that he cruised the last few yards, offering high-fives to anyone with an outstretched hand on his way to the finish line. After crossing and falling flat onto the ground, Hesch got back up and returned to the course to cheer on his fans and competitors.

Keeping a 5:24 pace (5:02 for the first 15 miles), Hesch pushed himself hard for the first 20 miles, he said. “That took its toll, so I started backing off.”

Sumner has two goals for next year’s marathon: make it bigger and make it better.

“One day, we will wake up and all these big corporations who just watch us [now] will step up to he plate and help us out,” Sumner said. “I’m hoping for one of those phone calls soon.”