Mount Pulaski's 2nd Annual King of the Hill 5K full of smiles and sweat
Bryan Glass and Amanda Nelson repeat winners

 

[July 23, 2019] 

Runners of all ages were drawn to the hills of Mount Pulaski on Saturday evening to participate in the second annual running of the Mount Pulaski King of the Hill 5K. With a 'feels like' temperature of 105 degrees at 6 p.m. runners left their mark in front of Johnson True Value Hardware and headed around town, going up and down the hills of Lafayette, Jefferson and Washington Streets. Sweating and smiling, the runners ran through town and some even slowed down to enjoy the water sprinklers that were set up at various locations. In less than 20 minutes the first winner crossed the finish line in front of the Mount Pulaski Courthouse.

The overall winner of the 2019 event was Bryan Glass of Springfield. Glass was last year's inaugural race winner with a time of 16:45. This year he crossed the finish line with a time of 16:29. In addition to a medal and trophy, Glass was presented with $100.

Amanda Nelson was the first female to cross the finish line. She is also a repeat winner of the event. She finished with a time of 20:45, which was exactly her time last year. She received $100 in addition to a medal and trophy.

Organizer of the King of the Hill 5K, Zach Switzer, was pleased with the huge turnout of runners who braved the heat and the hills on a Saturday night. "We had hot weather this year, which was better than last year's thunderstorm," noted Switzer. "Everybody was pretty sweaty but we had no injuries reported and everybody was safe. I think that's a success. We had 64 total runners and six kids for the Kids Challenge this year."

Brothers Garrett and Benjamin Smock participated in the Kids Challenge. "I didn't finish last," said four-year-old Benny.

The Kids Challenge was free to kids 10 and under and it was a 100 yard hill challenge with the little runners dashing up Washington Street and crossing the finish line. The Kids Challenge took place prior to the 6 p.m. race.

Within the hour all the runners had crossed the finish line. People came from all over Illinois to run the hills. There were young athletes from Riverton and Decatur participating. Riverton eighth grade student-athlete Isaac Crumrine finished fifth overall in the race.

MacArthur Cross Country Coach Angelo Rinchiuso and four of his athletes who ran the King of the Hill 5K.

Decatur MacArthur Cross Country Coach Angelo Rinchiuso brought four of his athletes over to participate in the race. "It was hot and hilly," said Rinchiuso. "It was an interesting course with a lot of turns. A good race for the kids to get them stronger for their season coming up."

Other runners of all ages traveled from Lincoln, Chestnut, Chatham, Athens, Mattoon, Greenview, Argenta, Rochester, Illiopolis, Morton, Murphysboro, Normal and Pekin to challenge themselves.

"Amanda Nelson, our overall female winner and bounty winner, came all the way from St. Louis, Missouri this year," said Switzer. "We had another runner from southern Illinois. We also had a lot of support from local communities. Runners also came from Bloomington, Peoria, Decatur and Springfield."

Following the 5K, the participants gathered at The Old Brickyard Pub & Grill in Mount Pulaski for a post-race party and awards ceremony. Each participant who had registered early was given a race t-shirt and a drink token to use at the party. Individual trophies were also awarded to the winners of each age category.

Winners Bryan Glass of Springfield and Amanda Nelson of St. Louis were seated at the same table at the post-race party and the repeat champions once again earned the victory.

"The conditions were pretty brutal honestly," began Glass. "But we're both running the Quad City Times Bix 7 next weekend and that is a very hilly and typically hot and humid race so this was our preparation race for that. We thought if we came in here and we could get pretty close to the previous course records then we would be doing well for next weekend. Obviously we came out on top. We're really happy with what happened today despite the fact that it was 100 degrees heat index at race time. I enjoy it. It's the second year we've come out here. We like coming out to the small towns and supporting small town events. Hopefully we'll be back next year."

Nelson, who is currently in graduate school for physical therapy at Washington University in St. Louis, agreed that the race was a hot one. "It was really hot," she said. "I mean it's a challenging course and it's a fun race actually. It's a small town and a lot of people come out to support it. It's just nice to be in a community that feels like a family, no matter where you come from."

"By the way, she (Nelson) is in her final year of getting her doctorate at Washington University," said a smiling Glass of his friend.

After a quick breather, Switzer will begin planning for next year's race. The 5K will continue to be a night race he said. "There's some conversation about maybe moving the race to 2nd Friday in Mount Pulaski to coincide with the events that we already have going on here in town."

Switzer said the money raised from Saturday night's race will benefit the Central Illinois Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which is based in Champaign. "All the proceeds from the registrants will go to that and we will post a donation check on our Facebook page once we get all that figured out," said Switzer.

Jeff Paternoster of ShaZam Racing managed the timed event.

Top ten race finishers

Bryan Glass 16:29
Jeremy Smith 20:39
Dustin Webb 20:41
Amanda Nelson 20:45
Isaac Crumrine 21:13
Laquan Jackson 21:34
Jackson Johnson 21:37
Dylan Howell 22:14
David Allspach 22:57
Angelo Rinchiuso 23:12

[Teena Lowery]