A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Eleven-year-old Blake Prosen (bib 470) and Aiden Korby (bib 438) lead the pack at the start of Saturday's annual Cloquet River Run. Racers run from Churchill School, going down, along and across the St. Louis River and back up to the school. Prosen took 16th overall and ninth in the male category out of 159 racers.
Sasha Wahman, and Lauren Hughes, ages 10 and 11 respectively, took fifth and seventh among females in Saturday's race.
Men's 5K winner Edward Martin.
Women's 5K winner Jody Zeleznikar.
Mother Nature put on her Saturday best for runners at Cloquet's annual River Run. The weather was sunny, but brisk. The trees were popping with color. The river was flowing. And the people were running, or walking, or a little bit of both.
As a runner and as the principal at Churchill Elementary School - the benefactor of funds raised by the annual 5K and 1-mile runs - David Wangen was thrilled with the day.
"It was a great race with great running weather," he said. "Attendance was up."
Edward Martin won the men's 5K race in 20:12, followed by Ryan Eberhardt in 20:36 and Jarrow Wahman in 20:45. Of note, there were two 11-year-old boys in the top 10: Aiden Korby took sixth in 24:13 and Blake Prosen took ninth in 24:17 after leading the race briefly (see start photo) at the first block.
Former Cloquet cross-country coach and special education teacher Jody Zeleznikar took first for the women, running the 5K in 21:39, good enough for fourth overall. Leah Hammond took second in 22:13 and Liz Kolquist took third in 22:56. Amber Despot took fourth and the next six spots in the top 10 all went to girls 10-13 years old, including (in order) Sasha Wahman (who took 10th overall with a time of 23:59), Brielle Simula, Lauren Hughes, Harlee Ziebol, Keanna Simula and Brookelynn Sell.
The annual race aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and fund different health or technology-related items or activities at Churchill. The kids there also get some extra practice running in preparation for the race.
"The River Run has helped fund countless healthy initiatives for the school, some playground equipment as well as past technology," Wangen said. "The school is fortunate to have this community support."
