STATE COLLEGE — The Central PA 4th Fest kicked off with a bang as more than 900 runners and walkers set out on the Firecracker 4K Saturday morning. Participants included some of the area’s top runners, but also families and teams running together, festive red, white, and blue costumes, parents pushing kids in strollers and even a few dogs.
CDT photos/Craig Houtz
Maggie Redden, who competed for the United States in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, leads off the start of the Firecracker 4K on Saturday in State College.
David Moore, 24, a former Penn State runner currently residing in State College, won the race in 12 minutes, 52.80 seconds. Moore bested his 2007 winning time of 12:53.00 on a slightly modified course. Matthew Groves, 21, a Penn State track runner and son of retired Penn State track coach Harry Groves, followed Moore and finished second in 12:57.60. “I could see him behind me the whole time,” Moore said of his former teammate.
Last year’s Firecracker 4K winner and 2009 National Duathlon masters champion Jeff Miller, 41, of Lewistown, was third overall and first masters runner in 13:07.40.
Meira Minard, 35, of State College ran away with the women’s race, taking first in 15:18.10. Though Minard said several women were ahead of her in the beginning of the race, she finished nearly a minute ahead of the second- place Angela Robinson, 22, of Julian. Robinson’s time was 16:15.65, and Danielle Mizer, 37, of Arlington, Va., was third in 16:32.15.
Minard, who also plans to compete in the Happy Valley Sprint Triathlon today, said she ran the 4K because if she didn’t run in the morning, she wouldn’t get a chance to run once she started celebrating the holiday with her family.
The first female masters finisher was Patricia Keating, 47, of Dayton, Md., in 16:49.20. Keating, a State College native, was in town with her family visiting her mother. Her husband just barely edged in front of her at the finish.
Among the runners clad in red, white, and blue were six members of the State College Area High School volleyball team, who ran the entire race together. “It’s good team bonding,” said Liz Novack, who will be a senior in the fall. “We work out together every day,” said fellow senior Shannon Traurig. The other team members were sophomore Ashley Knight and seniors Lauren Wandel, Maggie Harding, and Alli Fleagle.
Many of the youngest runners sported bright red Nittany Track and Field T-shirts. Mark Fedkin, organizer of the youth running program in State College, said he encouraged participating kids to run the 4K, including his own two children, Natasha and Nikita.
The race took runners on a 4-kilometer loop around Penn State’s campus, starting and finishing on Curtin Road in front of the Bryce Jordan Center as volunteers were setting up for the rest of the day’s festivities.
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