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ALTON - Jake Peal of Bethalto and April Lund of Bismarck, N.D., were the men’s and women’s overall winners of the 59th annual Great River Road Run on Saturday in Alton. The annual race is sponsored by the Alton Road Runners Club.
Peal covered the 10-mile course in 58:12.30 to win the men’s race, with Aaron Werths of Granite City finishing second with a time of 58:35.30. Collinsville’s Justin Wieduwilt was third, coming in at 58:59.30, Kyle Hill of St. Louis was fourth at 1:00.15.00 and Ryan Krause of Troy finished fifth at 1:00:26.00.
Lund won the women’s race with a time of 1:01:34.00, with Jessica Mitchell coming in second at 1:04:41.50. Renee White of Michael, Ill., came in third with a time of 1:09:31.00, finishing fourth was Katie Forrester of Jerseyville, who posted time was 1:16:03.90 and Lynne Marsala of St. Charles, Mo., was fifth at 1:16:52.60.
Peal was also the winner of the men’s under-40 age group, while Nathan Rugg of Glenview, Ill., took the 40-59 age group with a time of 1:04”36.80. The 60-and-over age group winner was Joe Cortopassi of St. Louis, coming in with a time of 1:18:15.10.
Lund was also the winner of the women’s 40-and-under category, while White took top honors in the 40-59 age group. Mary Kiehl of St. Louis was the 60-and-over group winner with a time of 1:30:09.20.
Co-race director Russ Colona said the Great River Road Run went extremely well.
"The weather was outstanding," he said. "There were absolutely no hitches in the run. The volunteers did a fantastic job all day. My wife, Kathy, and son, Nicholas, were two big reasons the race ran smoothly. I am proud to work with all of them.
"There were some fast times yesterday as I heard many runners exclaiming PR as they finished the race. The two-mile went well also with a big crowd finishing that race. My only complaint is the numbers were down and would like to see more runners.
Next year will be the 60th annual run and we will try to plan some extra special happenings for this very special Alton tradition."
Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.
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