Saturday, July 17, 1999 -- Fairmont
21st Annual Huntington Bank Fairmont 5K & 10K

[Coverage/Recap] Pictures: [Set 1] [Set 2] [Set 3] [Set 4] [Set 5]
Results: [10K Run] [5K Run] [1 Mile Fun Run]

Reynolds, Hunter and Urse keep it close early in the 10K

Another hot and humid summer's day awaited runners of all ages as they converged on Fairmont's East West Stadium. This was their destination on Saturday morning, July 17th, as the prepared for the start of the 21st Huntington Bank 5K & 10K races. Not only would they be battling the less than ideal running weather, a challenging course with plenty of WV hills would be testing their mettle.

Getting the late start were the 10K runners, starting just after the 5K began. But right from the start it was all Fairmont at the front with Will Hunter, John Reynolds and Jay Urse getting off to quick starts. These three had also all raced in the 1998 10K race and finished in 2nd (36:09), 4th (37:22) and 13th (42:45), respectively. With another hot year, everyone was hoping to improve on their time, and hopefully on their finishing place.

Larry Tenney keeps it close with 6-year-old Bradon King

As the race progressed, the three leaders began to separate as the course began to take it's toll. By the time they made their way down the final stretch, Hunter was clearly the strongest on this day with a finishing time of 35:56, 15 seconds better than in 1998. While Reynolds was able to improve 42 seconds on his previous year's time, it was still 44 seconds behind Hunter. However, it was more than enough to secure second over Urse's third place time of 40:05. But Urse could still take credit for a nice improvement of 2:40 over his previous time.

The battle for first in the female 10K ranks had 1997 winner, Rebecca Schoonover, ready to race the 1998 winner, Holly Hunter, sister of the overall winner. The 1999 crown came back to Schoonover as she was able to improve on her 1998 time by 1:22 to take the win in 43:45. Hunter crossed the line just over a minute back at 44:49 to take second, but a disappointing 2:10 off her previous time. Not far off their pace was the third place finisher, Sarah Corely, with a time of 45:29.

Victoria Hukin sprints to the Fun Run finish

The top of the 5K field also saw three 1998 finishers taking the first three spots. Jonathan Wright (11th in 1998 at 19:41) took the win with a finishing time of 18:21. Finishing just seconds back was Joey Herron (5th in 1998 at 18:08) who took second place in a time of 18:24. Grabbing the third overall spot was the women's 10K winner's husband Todd Schoonover (9th in 1998 at 19:35) who crossed the line at 19:33.

The fastest 5K women's runners saw a few new faces at the front of the field in 1999. With first through third only separated by 10 seconds at the finish, it was Melissa Pearson who took first place honors with a time of 23:47. Second place went to Karyn Riedeman a few strides back at 23:53. In third place, and possibly answering questions concerning the success of the young siblings Will and Holly, was their mother Sallie Hunter with a finishing time of 23:57.

With the Fun Run 1 Mile getting the final start of the day's events, 13-year-old Adam Martin raced to the finish first with a time of 7:08.