EDWARDSVILLE - For 10 years, the Route 66 10K has cruised its way through the streets of Edwardsville and has seared itself into the hearts of thousands of runners.
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This Saturday morning, the 10th Annual Route 66 10K brought over 500 participants out to Edwardsville City Park to kick off the 6.2-mile race.
David Dowd, the race's co-director, was thrilled with the response to this year’s run. Dowd will be taking over as sole director of the race as Rich Luers steps down after this year. Luers started the race in 2007.
“We’ve had a really successful race this year,” Dowd said. “We had a little over 500 registrants with a great start this morning on this beautiful day. We couldn’t ask for better.”
Hosted by the Metro Milers Runners and Walkers Club, most of the participants have been training since the beginning of the year at sponsored “cruises” of the course. With the help of the organization, led by Metro Milers President Mel Suess, these training runs not only familiarized the runners with the race, but also grew the camaraderie between beginning and experienced runners alike.
Suess also handled aspects of the race such as t-shirts, commemorative pint glasses for the participants and the finishers metals.
“On Wednesday nights, we get a lot of runners who had never run before or certainly haven’t run a 10K before, so seeing them develop into someone who was maybe not a runner at all to someone who runs their first 10K, a pretty good distance, is exciting for them and exciting for us to watch that happen,” Dawd said.
Spirit stations lined the 6.2-mile route with organizations including two girl scout troops, a 4-H group, Cat Country 1/2 marathon organizers, Roxana Running Club and the Metro Tri-Club. The spirit stations compete to earn money for their non-profit organizations all the while cheering on the runners of the race.
Justin Wieduwilt of Collinsville, running for RunWell Racing, took the top spot for males for the second year in a row with a time of 36:24.5. Krista Arnold, also running for RunWell Racing, was the first woman across the finish line.
Special recognition was also given this year to the only two runners that have finished in all ten of the Route 66 10K races, Patrick Albert and Frank Voris.
TOP 25 RACE RESULTS COURTESY OF FINAL LAP RACE MANAGEMENT:
| Place | Name | Club/Team Name | Bib No | Age | Gender | Age Group | Div | Chip Time | Gun Time | Chip Diff | Pace |
| 1 | Justin Wieduwilt | RunWell Racing | 505 | 33 | M | 1 Overall | 1 | 36:24.5 | 36:25.7 | 0:01.1 | 5:52/M |
| 2 | Jon Yoch | St Louis Track Club | 187 | 27 | M | 2 Overall | 1 | 36:40.4 | 36:41.3 | 0:00.8 | 5:55/M |
| 3 | David Droege | Final Lap | 335 | 34 | M | 3 Overall | 1 | 37:17.0 | 37:17.1 | 0:00.1 | 6:01/M |
| 4 | Matthew Shearer | RunWell Racing | 512 | 34 | M | 1 30-34 | 1 | 37:48.2 | 37:49.5 | 0:01.3 | 6:06/M |
| 5 | Blake Marcum | 530 | 31 | M | 2 30-34 | 1 | 38:24.7 | 38:25.3 | 0:00.6 | 6:12/M | |
| 6 | Roland Prenzler | 483 | 15 | M | 1 15-19 | 1 | 38:38.6 | 38:39.3 | 0:00.6 | 6:14/M | |
| 7 | Krista Arnold | RunWell Racing | 511 | 33 | F | 1 Overall | 1 | 38:42.4 | 38:43.9 | 0:01.4 | 6:15/M |
| 8 | Adam Sohl | 540 | 22 | M | 1 20-24 | 1 | 38:53.3 | 38:54.6 | 0:01.3 | 6:16/M | |
| 9 | Colby Garman | 263 | 38 | M | 1 35-39 | 1 | 38:57.4 | 38:58.0 | 0:00.5 | 6:17/M | |
| 10 | Robbie Horstman | Georgia Game Changers Track Cl | 491 | 27 | M | 1 25-29 | 1 | 39:37.9 | 39:38.6 | 0:00.6 | 6:23/M |
| 11 | Daniel Feder | Al Lawrence Running Club | 485 | 53 | M | 1 Masters | 1 | 39:45.9 | 39:46.5 | 0:00.5 | 6:25/M |
| 12 | Jonah Durbin | RunWell Racing | 504 | 15 | M | 2 15-19 | 1 | 39:55.7 | 39:56.8 | 0:01.1 | 6:26/M |
| 13 | Tom Fischer | Flying Fish Running Club | 575 | 39 | M | 2 35-39 | 1 | 41:52.0 | 41:53.5 | 0:01.4 | 6:45/M |
| 14 | Heather Burke | Belleville Running Club | 573 | 31 | F | 2 Overall | 1 | 42:34.3 | 42:37.5 | 0:03.2 | 6:52/M |
| 15 | Bill Sass | Phoenix Free Soles | 318 | 41 | M | 1 40-44 | 1 | 42:43.6 | 42:48.1 | 0:04.4 | 6:53/M |
| 16 | Keri Burmester | 363 | 18 | F | 3 Overall | 1 | 42:55.5 | 42:56.7 | 0:01.2 | 6:55/M | |
| 17 | Jorge Garcia | 455 | 42 | M | 2 40-44 | 1 | 42:59.7 | 43:02.3 | 0:02.6 | 6:56/M | |
| 18 | Angela Reckelhoff | 459 | 35 | F | 1 35-39 | 1 | 43:01.1 | 43:06.3 | 0:05.1 | 6:56/M | |
| 19 | Peter Maag | 472 | 36 | M | 3 35-39 | 1 | 43:04.6 | 43:06.6 | 0:02.0 | 6:57/M | |
| 20 | Brittney Burmester | 362 | 21 | F | 1 20-24 | 1 | 43:17.2 | 43:18.1 | 0:00.9 | 6:59/M | |
| 21 | Caleb Schoeber | Vitality Multisport | 555 | 23 | M | 2 20-24 | 1 | 43:35.0 | 43:37.0 | 0:02.0 | 7:02/M |
| 22 | Ty Mullins | 569 | 24 | M | 3 20-24 | 1 | 43:37.7 | 43:42.1 | 0:04.4 | 7:02/M | |
| 23 | Deon Mallinckrodt | 397 | 49 | M | 1 45-49 | 1 | 43:37.7 | 43:39.1 | 0:01.3 | 7:02/M | |
| 24 | Emiley England | 520 | 13 | F | 1 1-14 | 1 | 43:42.8 | 43:43.8 | 0:01.0 | 7:03/M | |
| 25 | Samuel Wilson | Road Warriors | 495 | 35 | M | 4 35-39 | 1 | 44:01.3 | 44:04.4 | 0:03.1 | 7:06/M |
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