Parkway 13-Year-Old Rocks Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half Marathon on Oct. 23 heralded over 22,000 runners, making it the largest marathon in St. Louis history.

Among the runners was 13-year-old Nick (Nicky) Matteucci, Jr., an 8th grade student at Parkway South Middle. Although he had never run a half marathon before, as a 7th grade student Nicky set a new Cross Country record for the school and placed first for the mile run in an All District meet.

Over the course of 3 months, Nicky trained with his dad, Nick Sr. who is a seasoned runner, by running  8-11 miles every weekend, even in the heat.  Determined to train well, Nicky fought through some seasonal allergy and asthma.

The day of the race brought near-perfect weather conditions as Nick Sr. and Nicky began their 13.1 mile run together. With roaring support from on-lookers amazed at the tenacity of this young man, bands playing along the route set in South St. Louis City and the continued support of his dad, Nicky kept time with the aggressive pace they had set together as a team. He was a regular celebrity on the course running among (and past) some very serious adult runners.

At mile 11, Nick Sr. recognized that Nicky had not trained for the final 2.1 miles that lay before him. Nick Sr. says, "I told him when we got to mile 11 we would talk about it since he has never gone this far and this fast. Well, mile 11 came and we had already started speeding up. I told him 'let's go chase down the 1:40 pace group' and off we went. We passed them and he kept on running hard."

Nicky kept up that personal best pace and when they got to the final one tenth of the last mile his dad said, "He found a kick and left me in the dust finishing 12 places and 8 seconds ahead of me."

Nicky finished the St. Louis Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon in 1 hour 38 minutes 15 seconds, which landed him first place in the age 12-14 division and 352 overall (of nearly 15,000 runners).

Nicky will be recognized with a trophy but his dad says, "The best (part) of all was the smile on his face and realizing how much he loved it."