Sunday, September 12, 1999 -- Nutter Fort
Campaign Kick-Off 5K Run/Walk
Story & photos by Julie Bertsch

[Coverage] [Pic Set 1] [Pic Set 2] [Pic Set 3] [Pic Set 4] [Results]

Joey Herron has a strong finish as 4th Place Overall

Clarksburg City Park in Nutter Fort was crowded with people of all ages attending softball and little league games, festival and food booths, and of course, the Campaign Kick-Off 5K Run! The sun was shining high and bright, making conditions pretty sweaty for the 95 plus runners getting ready to run 3.1 miles of hot pavement at 2 pm. The course was a fairly forgiving flat run, with an out and back loop that was to be run twice to complete the total distance. As the traffic conditions for the park were getting under control by several young, volunteers, Race Director Fred Wilson went over the rules and gave the starting signal. The pack took off, leaving a trail of people to be seen from the park to the first right into the neighborhoods of Nutter Fort.

Stephen Hiser gets chased during the 1st lap of the race

Keeping a 30 second lead over last year's race winner, Kenny Beerbower, the very experienced Larry Taylor, flew by at a fast pace rounding the end of the 1st lap. "I think Beerbower will be pushing Taylor today." said a race fan at pre-race time. Beerbower had a strong pace as well, but Taylor kept his lead all the way to the finish and received the 1st Place Overall trophy with a time of 16:31.

Now 15 years old, Kenny Beerbower has gained some race experience of his own. He beat his winning 1st place time from 1998 by a minute or more, finishing this year in 2nd with the time of 16:59. Seemingly getting faster with each race he competes in, Murshid Latif (17:06) also beat his time from last year by 30 seconds or so.

Julie Zickefoose rounds the corner towards the finish line

The Women's race for 1st was dominated by Julie Zickefoose (22:39), who finished ahead of Carol Davis by more than a minute. Kodie Miller ran her own race and finished 2nd in the Women's category with a time of 23:36 ahead of Carol Davis (23:44), who finished 3rd in that category.

After the race was over, it was time to cool off with some refreshments. Many parents watched proudly as their kids ran in their very own race! Everyone was invited to enjoy the live entertainment and festivities going on in the park and a good time was had by all!