Saturday, September 11, 1999 -- Huntington
Healthy Heart 5K Run/Fun Walk & 1 Mile Fun Walk
Story and pictures by Pam Anderson

[Coverage/Recap] [Pictures] [Overall Results] [Results by Class]

David Gray, Jeff Norris and Greg Cocke battle to the finish

A cool crisp sunny morning made for a great day for the Healthy Heart Fair Event 1999. St. Mary's Hospital for community health awareness organized this event. The morning offered many events including a health fair where you could have your cholesterol screening done, information on nutrition, and even a therapeutic massage among many other screenings and available health information. One of the main attractions of the day's events was the Healthy Heart 5K Run and Fun Walk that wound its way through the flat rolling streets of downtown Huntington and past the Marshall Thundering Herd Stadium.

A well known name in the racing community, Jared Smith with his two year old daughter Shaila and his mother cheering him on, cleared the finish line for first place overall male with a time of 16:35. Jared, pleased with his finish and time said, it was a good course with his lead about 150 meters ahead most of the race. Taking first place in the women's overall was Susan McGhie with a time of 18:09.

Enjoying the spoils of victory

Capturing second place in the male overall was Justin Rogers age 15 from an area high school track team, with a time of 17:08. With an overall third place finish, Zachary Beckett (17:25) was another strong competitor from an area high school track team.

The days second place overall female winner was Kelly McGraw of Charleston with a time of 18:35. Kelly said that it was a very flat course compared to Charleston's race courses. Taking third place female honors was Chelsea Walls (21:17).

A special mention goes to Patricia Meadows, running her first race she placed third in her age group (40-44) with a time of 30:28.

The Healthy Heart 5K race was a great success with 163 runners. A job well done by the many volunteers and St. Mary's Hospital on this event and Tom Plummer who provided the race results.