Gutsy winning performances highlighted this year’s Tri-Span 5K and 10K, a race held annually for 34 years to benefit the Wilmington Family YMCA’s LIVESTRONG program for cancer survivors.
About 500 runners took part in the race through downtown Wilmington July 9. They jogged down Water Street Saturday morning, 150 of them on course to complete the 5K. Soon, two runners had distanced themselves from the rest of the field and finished the race steps apart.
Sixteen-year-old John T. Hoggard cross country runner Jamie Witmer sprinted across the finish line in 16:22, less than one second in front of 20-year-old UNCW runner Alex Boseman. A handful of their teammates also entered the race.
Witmer said he ran faster than he thought he would, because the course was flat and the air temperature wasn’t too hot for mid-July. It also helped having Boseman pushing him for three-fourths of the race, he added.
The 10K finish was less dramatic, but still featured a come-from-behind win. Daniel Ellis from Jefferson, Ga. started quickly, at one point opening up a quarter mile lead on Wilmington runner Sam Brandt, but Brandt reeled him back in and finished 20 seconds in front with a final time of 36:35.
“I just had to focus and close the gap,” Brandt said.
The course, which traversed three bridges, including the Cape Fear Memorial bridge and the Isabel Holmes bridge, was challenging, he added. But he was familiar with at least part of the route, being a member of the Wilmington Road Runners Club, which regularly trains in downtown Wilmington.
A number of his fellow club members entered the race, Brandt said, noting how active the Wilmington running community is.
“We’ve got a good group down here today,” he said. “[The running community] is huge, and everyone supports each other.”
Also supporting the runners were volunteers wearing yellow shirts bearing the phrase “LIVESTRONG at the YMCA.” The race raised money for LIVESTRONG, the YMCA’s free health and wellness program designed for adult cancer survivors. Participants meet for 75 minutes twice a week for 12 weeks, progressing through exercises tailored to their specific needs.
They are invited to share what procedures and surgeries they’ve had, and what exercises they can and can’t do. Kemille Moore, who just finished the program in April, said her classmates were “totally non judgmental” during that conversation.
“Everyone just cheers each other on,” she said.
“We all have different cancers,” Kelly Breita added, “but we can all relate to each other in some way.”
They emerge from the class, not only healthier physically—with a free 6-month YMCA membership—but also healthier emotionally, with a new support group.
“We started out strangers, but we’re all friends now,” Breita said.
Going through chemotherapy and radiation can be isolating, Lynette Hone added, and the others nodded in agreement.
“So we’re in this program where we’re built up, not only physically, but also psychologically and spiritually,” she said. “We learn the machines, but we also learn about one another.”
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