Battling each other stride for stride from the race’s beginning, New Castle’s Wesley Toews was able to summon up another gear in the late stages of Saturday’s Silt Historical Park 5K Run to edge Jeason Murphy of Glenwood to claim the overall race victory in the 3.1 mile event.
Toews ran a time of 17 minutes and 55 seconds, to Murphy’s 18:05. Third place on the out-and-back course just west of Silt was Glenwood’s Josh Hejtmanek with a time of 19:32. Phil Dunn of New Castle, winner of last week’s Water Wells 5K at Two Rivers Park in Glenwood, was fourth overall by hitting the finish line tape at 20:50.
In fifth place overall and the runaway winner in the women’s division was Jamie Kruis of Glenwood. Kruis ran a swift time of 21:01 to best runner-up Angela Dunn of New Castle (22:25) and Jessica Pooler (22:44), also a New Castle resident.
There were 41 total participants in the Silt Historical Park 5K, which was the third race in the Colorado River Valley Charity Race Series. Next up on the CRVCRS calendar will be the Run for Their Lives 5K at the Stoney Ridge Ball Field in Silt. The race is a benefit for the Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation. Start time is 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 1.