Coleman, Monsour take Anderson Cup
By Staff
The downtown hills of Meridian provided runners another challenging stretch run here Saturday morning at the 20th annual Anderson Cup Road Race.
Peter Coleman of Demopolis, Ala., met the challenge and won his first Anderson Cup finishing 25 seconds ahead of Mike Thrailkill of Decatur.
Kim Monsour, who worked for five years at the Anderson Fitness Center, was the overall female champion clocking a time of 21:31. Brandy Gamblin of Meridian was second at 21:40 and Conseuella Hooks was third at 21:54.
Both Coleman and Monsour said the final kilometer, which features the long steady uphill climb of 22nd Avenue, was a tough.
Coleman finished in 17:06, bettering last year's winning time of just over 18 minutes. Thrailkill, 39, was right behind at 17:31. Dan Ward, 34 of Meridian, was third at 18:42. Anthony Steele, 20, was fourth at 18:56 and 15-year-old Chris Martin was fifth at 19:12.
This was Martin's second Anderson Cup race. He ran his first last year at age 14.
Monsour said she had a game plan for the final kilometer.
A total of 109 runners competed in the 5K run. James Johnson, 42 of Meridian, won the Male Masters competition in a time of 21:03. Wanda Kennedy, 49 of Meridian, was the Female Masters winner in 22:40.
Mike Neal, 51 of Meridian, was the Male Grand Masters winner in a time of 19:23. Georgia Walker, 56 of Meridian, was the Female Grand Masters winner in 26:36.
The fun run was won by 11-year-old Nathaniel Hodges of Collinsville in 7:09. Joel Ivy, 11 of Quitman, was second in 7:19. Adrion McKinney, 12 of Meridian, was third in 7:37. Hannah Riley, was the top girl runner at 7:38. She placed fourth overall. Ryan Leonard, 12 of Meridian, was fifth.
Curtis Fancher, 50 of Union, won the 2-mile walk in 21:38. Scott Bancroft, 41 of Meridian, won his 40-47-year-age group in 25:38. Johnnie Bradley, 58 of Union, won the senior division at 22:15.
Deanna Kelly, 21 of Quitman, was the female walk winner. She clocked a time of 28:16. Meagan Wheeler, 20 Toomsuba, was second in 31:59.
