A swarm of Santa Clauses, reindeer, elves and the occasional snowman gathered in front of Wrightsville Beach Museum of History Saturday, Dec. 13. The sounds of laughter and barking dogs mixed with Christmas tunes blaring from a loudspeaker as 528 participants lined up to begin the museum’s sixth annual Jingle Bell Run 5k.
At 9 a.m., competitors took off around the John Nesbitt Loop. Eighteen minutes and 41 seconds later, Greg Zinner raced across the finish line to win. Angela Barth was the first woman to finish with a final time of 21:21.
Despite the fun nature of the race, it was clear the early finishers, especially some of the youngest competitors, were pushing to achieve a good time. Groups of children sprinted across the finish line, representing Malpass Corner Elementary School’s running club and Codington Elementary School.
A correlation soon became apparent between the order of finish and the extravagance of the costume. Although it was likely no personal records were achieved by these later finishers, that did not appear to be their goal.
Every year, the Jingle Bell Run awards prizes for costumes in addition to final times. In recent years, race organizers added prizes for best pet costume and best stroller decorations, adding to awards for the best individual and team costumes,
Jennifer Crawley’s two chocolate Labradors won first place for best costume, perhaps because they truly inhabited the character of their costumes. Crawley jogged behind the labs wearing a Santa hat and clutching a leash in each hand as her antler-wearing dogs pulled her around the racecourse.
Just missing out on the top prize but carrying the distinction of shortest legs in the race was Tony Reyes and Francis Atkins’ pomeranian, Baby Francis Reyes. She earned her second-place honors by sporting a red vest with a cape and fuzzy red jingle bell booties around her paws. Reyes said she is capable of running a very fast 5k, despite taking five times as many steps as her fellow competitors. The Mrs. Claus costume might have hindered her during this race, he admitted.
“She’s actually run a 28-minute 5k before,” he said. “Maybe she was restricted a little bit because of the vest.”
The award for best team prize was a toss-up between two teams: a first-time entrant and a Jingle Bell Run regular. In their first year competing, members of team Holiday Inn took a broad approach to the Christmas theme. Their costumes included a Christmas tree, a present, a candy cane, a reindeer, a Santa Claus and an elf, and they each carried a balloon to keep track of one another in the mass of red and green costumes.
However, team members from Noble Middle School used their five years of Jingle Bell Run experience to clinch the top prize. They signed up as Noble EOS so as not to give away their theme before race day.
All was revealed as 16 Elves on Shelves crossed the finish line together. Team member Camille McKeon said after years of participating as Santa and his reindeer, she and her daughter, Courtney McKeon, came up with the idea of the Elf on the Shelf costume. They created the elf legs by stuffing shredded paper into red pantyhose and completed the costume with elf ears.
While the theme was a crowd favorite, Camille McKeon said the team is already planning ways to outdo it next year.
“We go out to eat after this,” she said, “and start thinking, what are we gonna do next!”
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Geez Emmy….I’m kinda bummed you didn’t mentioned my first place for best individual costume….I wanted to put the article next to my trophy and picture. It was my very first 5K race ever….and I ran it dressed as a fireplace…with Santa coming down the chimney…that’s worth mentioning I think!