MIFFLINBURG — A record crowd filled the streets of Mifflinburg Friday morning for the 25th anniversary of the borough’s annual holiday 5K, which draws more participants than any other area road race.
Running to victory was Tim Stackhouse of New Berlin in 16:53.
Lewisburg High cross country and track and field standout Sophia Ziemian was the top female finisher, crossing the line in 18:09.30.
Just over 500 runners registered for the event, a record number of entrants, while 491 finished the race. The kids fun run, which followed the 5K, also had a record number of entrants as more than 130 young runners tackled the half-mile course.
Conditions were near perfect for a July 4 race with overcast skies, temperatures in the 70s and rather low humidity levels. Still, the course records that have remained intact for decades did not fall. Jim Simpson set the male standard (15:06) in 1994 while Katie Martin’s record (17:37) celebrated its 23rd straight summer intact.
Stackhouse and Ziemian took home the Tom Muchler Memorial Awards, presented to the top overall male and female winners each year. Muchler, who passed away in 2002, founded the race.
Organizers had hoped to top the 500-runner mark as part of the Silver Anniversary and as the horde of participants gathered at the starting line, race director Don Bowman made the announcement that more than 500 had registered for the race, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.
Once the race began, as with every Independence Day run in Mifflinburg, the streets were filled with runners and hundreds more lined the route to cheer on the participants making their way through the 3.1-mile route.
Notes: Stackhouse’s time of 16:53 equaled that of last year’s overall winner, Travis Joseph. Interestingly, four of the last six male and female winners were track and field standouts at Lewisburg High — Joseph in ‘07 and Chris Spooner in ‘03, ‘04 and ‘06 and on the female side, Ziemian, Casey Miller in ‘06 and Ashleigh Wetzel in ‘03 and ‘04... As part of the 25th-year celebration, race organizers provided runners that had completed 10 or more races with gift cards.