Saturday, September 26, 1998 -- Kingwood
Preston County Buckwheat 5K Run and 2 Mile Walk

The cool morning fog makes a great start for a race

[More Pictures] [Results]

The cool early morning fog set the scene for a 5K run starting at the Preston County Country Club Saturday morning, September 26th. The golfers didn't seem to mind as the racers gathered themselves for a run to benefit the Hospice of Care. The slightly rolling course took the racers off of the country club grounds and headed them down the road toward Camp Dawson before they turned around for the race back to the finish. The two-mile walk followed the same course but with an earlier turnaround point.

In the women's competition the young legs of Heather McDaniel prevailed

When the racing got underway a group of young runners began to move to the front. The one exception to this was the presence of 40-year-old Joey Herron. The older legs proved to be the fastest on this morning with Herron completing the course first in a time of 18:25. The combined age of the second and third place runners, Derek Clark (18:55) and Jarod Kabulski (19:31) respectively, was still five years short of Herron's 40.

More young legs rounded out the top five finishers with 22-year-old Brian Miller (20:16, 4th overall) edging out 13-year-old Scott Gemberling (20:26, 5th overall) by 10 seconds.

Mike Walls gives Dakota a 3-mile ride in under 30 minutes

The teenagers were still not done as 14-year-old Heather McDaniel topped the female competition in a time of 20:43. Even more impressive was that her finishing time was good enough for a sixth place overall finish.

The remaining racers all crossed the line with the spirit of champions. There were plenty of smiles resulting from a wonderful morning run/walk. There were a number of participants who took the opportunity to get their little ones out for a morning stroll. It makes some of us wonder when we will start to see races with a special class just for those pushing strollers.