The Gulf Coast Running Club's annual St. Patrick's Day Race in Biloxi was held on Saturday, March 17 with about 500 participants in the 5K Run/Walk and one-mile run. Because of the large number of people who arrived a little too close to race time, the race did not start on time and the heat became a factor for some of us old guys. The one-mile race started about 9:20 with about 100 people. Money prizes were given to the top three male and top three female finishers. The winning time was 4:57. The 5K had a record number of participants. After a few instructions from race director, Leonard Vergunst, long-time Gulf Coast Running Club member and good friend  Bill Gasparrini started the race. Tino Gonzalez was the overall winner with a time of 16:54, and the top femal finisher was Yekaterina Karpitskaya.  The Pine Belt area was well represented. The entire Henderson family showed up and did well. Bo Henderson won his age group, and Jennifer was the second overall race walker. Ray and Ashelyn Henderson also ran well. Ray Martin ran his first race in about a year and his son, Adam, ran his first race ever. Phillip Wedgeworth won the Senior Masters award. In my opinion, the most impressive runner present was 70 year old David Jeffrey, who ran a 19:51. Yes, I did say 70 years old. After the race we enjoyed plenty of good food and drink. Many people enjoyed plenty of green beer in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Thanks to all of the Gulf Coast Running Club people who worked hard to make this race a success. Complete results are linked.

http://gulfcoastrunningclub. org/results/data_5K.php?race= stpat&yr=2012