Early morning was warm and a little humid at Knox Middle School when about 180 runners finished the 11th annual Bare Bones 5K on Saturday.
Anthony Nero of Spencer took the overall title with a time of 18 minutes and 11 seconds, besting Josh Readling of Salisbury and Michael Putnam of Charlotte. Readling had a time of 18:21 and Putnam finished in 18:31.
Alayna Levie of Charlotte easily outpaced the women with a time of 19 minutes and 27 seconds. Sharon Davis of Albemarle was second in 20:36 with Rebecca Julian of Salisbury was third in 21:26.
The most thrilling race of the day was a photo finish for the half-mile fun run title between Eli Julian and Connor Price. Both sprinted in a near dead heat to the finish with Julian pulling ahead to win by .31 hundredths of a second. Both Julian and Price had times of 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
“A huge thank you to Rowan Regional Medical Center, Cheerwine, Salisbury Wine Shop, Pottery 101, city of Salisbury, Vac and Dash of Albemarle and Marathon Business Printing for their support of the Salisbury Rowan Runners and Relay for Life,” race director Randy Graham said. “Despite the warm and humid conditions, runners of all ages and abilities sweated it out to fight the battle against cancer.”
This was the first time Graham directed the race, following in the footsteps of race management legend David Abernathy.
Relay for Life spokesperson Tisha Godwin added, “It is a privilege to have SRR organize this event to benefit Relay for Life. I was fortunate to stand in the shade and call out 1-mile split times for the runners. Those runners were of all ages, fast and slow, but all looking for the finish line. That is why we Relay for the American Cancer Society … to see no more cancer at the finish line.”
About 35 volunteers worked the race.
Linda Sufficool originally registered to run the race, but she ended up working as a volunteer because of an injury. “We volunteers had a super time meeting new friends, working to support a great cause and remembering that all of us can triumph over personal challenges when we keep on keeping on,” Sufficool said.
Visit www.salisburyrowanrunners.org for complete results.