Twenty nine different people stood on top of the podium clutching custom made medals and a certificate entitling them to a new pair of Nike shoes from GoRun Wichita after placing first overall or first in their age group at the Dream Big 5K in New Market Square in Northwest Wichita on Saturday.

Shoes are a rather nice prize for age group awards. In most races, only top over all placers could expect to see a certificate for shoes. For those who didn’t quite make it all the way to the top and placed 2nd and 3rd in their age groups, they still received a nice custom medal with age group placing inscribed on the back.

If the awards didn’t provide enough incentive to run the Dream Big 5K, then maybe the prospects of running a new personal record may have. The certified course is very flat and fast starting and ending in the New Market Square parking lot and going thru the neighborhood along Central Park road.

Whatever reason runners had for running, it made a big difference with over 40% more participants this year than last year with a total of 377 finishers.

The top three men were all under 16 minutes.

1 Aaron Yoder, 26, Lindsborg KS 15:23

2 Thomas O’Connell, 21, Wichita KS 15:55

3 Tim Marshall, 27, Wichita KS 15:58

In the Women’s race, the youth Flying Angels cross country team made a mark by placing two in the top three.

1 Tammy Kallback, 31, Dubuque IA 20:03

2 Erin Topham, 10, Valley Center KS 20:55

3 Siera Fury, 11, Wichita KS 21:19

A one mile race was held after the 5k. Youth awards were given to the top 3 in each age group. The top 3 youth boys in the 1 mile Nike Free Run were as follows:

1 Kael Ecord, 10 Wichita KS 6:25

2 Alec Stephens, 10 Wichita KS 6:41

3 Ryan Fullerton, 8, Wichita KS 7:16

The top 3 youth girls in the 1 mile were as follows:

1 Jaidyn Goebel, 9 Wichita KS 6:31

2 Emily Odenwald, 10 Wichita KS 7:00

3 Nike Free Run Elizabeth Dixon, 10 Wichita KS 7:06

Check here for complete results.

Wichita Running Examiner

Karla Gregg is a wife, mother of three beautiful daughters, and a mechanical engineer who has a passion for running, triathlons and adventure racing. Karla grew up in Wyoming and graduated with her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming. She began running marathons with Nike Free Run the Leukemia Society’s Team in Training in 1997 as well as competing in triathlons. She has been addicted to triathlons and marathons ever since.

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