This past weekend at the Des Moines Marathon, runners faced an unusual challenge, a train. Simon Sawe was leading the race with four hundred meters left when his path was suddenly blocked by a crossing train. After 10 seconds the runner in second caught up, then the runner in third, and so on, until a group of runners stood waiting for the train to pass. So the 26.2 mile race, which seemed in the bag for Sawe, came down to a 400 meter sprint to the finish once the train passed.

Luckily for Sawe, he was a 1500 m specialist before turning to marathons and was able to regain a lead in the final sprint. He won the race and the 3000 purse.

Read the whole story and see additional photos at The Des Moines Register.