The global pandemic has changed how people do things and road races are no exception. The 2nd Annual Christmas in July Fox Mound 5K was set to take place on Saturday, July 18th but with the canceling of the city celebration, the race directors were forced to do what countless other races across the nation have done, switch to a virtual event. The virtual event allowed runners to run the 5K on their own and record their own times. Then, the runners submitted the times to the race directors. Although it makes the process a little more complicated, the event was a success.
The winner of the run was Josh Monson, who defended his victory from last summer. He clocked a time of 17:59 as he completed his 5K along the Missouri River in Yankton. On the women’s side, former Adrian High School standout Moriah Bullerman was the champion. Bullerman completed her 5K in the rolling gravel hills of Fox Mound in a time of 22:22.
Monson and Bullerman were 1st and 4th overall respectively, rounding out the top 5 were Chris Riley, an ultra marathoner from Spearfish, SD placed 2nd in 19:52. Local legend Darrin Pater was 3rd in 20:32, and Dylan Graff placed 5th overall running 22:40.
The top five women to finish along with Bullerman were Jennifer Recker, who was the 2nd female placing 9th overall in 23:55. Miah Kunkel clocked the 3rd best time placing 10th overall in 24:24. Adrian runner Hiltyn Heitkamp was 4th and Ann Bullerman was close behind with the two placing 12th and 13th respectively.
Runners participating from four states were able to take part because of the virtual format. Along with local runners, runners from western South Dakota, down to Pender, NE and over to Albert Lea, MN participated in the race. The youngest competitor was 10 year old Cody Weidert, who ran the 5,000 meter run in 43:10 to place 21st. Great work young man!
Thank you to everyone who participated and finally, thank you to our sponsors. Without the sponsors, there’s no race. The race sponsors this year were Pizza Ranch in Luverne, Adrian State Bank, Keith’s Grocery, Ellsworth Locker, Ellsworth Food Center, Jase Pater – RE/MAX, Adrian Town and Country, and The Sauerdough Bake Shop. We are very hopeful that this is the first and last time we have to do a road race virtually. We look forward to hosting a ‘live’ road race next summer with runners trudging through the challenging Fox Mound 5K!”
