Heavy downpours in the area Friday night didn’t deter the completion of the 15th annual Greenway 5K on Saturday at Knox Middle School.
Rain collapsed the registration tent, and organizers changed the early morning setup for the race because of wet grounds. But the clouds cooled runners early Saturday and helped with some fast times.
Conor Honeycutt paced the field with a time of 17 minutes and 53 seconds. Adam Cornelius was second in 18:05, with Robert Longstreet close behind in third at 18:09.
Ladeja Anderson led the women with a time of 21 minutes and 11 seconds. Olivia Myers was second in 21:43 and Tracey Glenn third in 22:14.
Top three runners, ages 8 and under, in the half-mile fun run were Jonas Motley in 3:40, Bennett Clark in 3:58 and Connor Price in 4:08. Age 9-12 runners were led by Declan Baker in 3:41, Katie Callahan in 4:04 and Trent Sink in 5 minutes flat.
Race director Steve Clark was pleased with the turnout, especially after seeing the Knox track and the Mahaley Avenue, Park Road area late Friday. “Our big tent was down, and flooding was everywhere,” Clark said. “We were lucky that the water receded along the greenway overnight. The clouds did hang around to keep the runners cool, and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Once again, all of our proceeds will go to the Salisbury Greenway project.”
Sponsors for the race were Rowan Regional Medical Center, Food Lion, Vidration Vitamin Enhanced Water, Marathon Xerox, Cheerwine, Knox Middle School, Krispy Kreme, the Rowan County YMCA, Scott Snider CPA, Yang Family Dentistry, Downtown Salisbury Inc. and Chamberlain Family Exterminators.
The Greenway 5K is a partnership between Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department and the Salisbury Rowan Runners.
You can go to www.salisburyrowanrunners.org for complete results.