Runners compete in Bald Mountain 10k

Over 100 students and Lynchburg residents laced up their running shoes and took to the woods Saturday morning at Camp Hydaway for the Bald Mountain 10k Trail Race.

The race started at 8 a.m. near the camp lake. The 6.2-mile course led runners all the way past places like the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre and the Liberty University monogram, finishing where it started.

Scott Miller, a junior at Liberty, especially appreciated the course setup.

“I really liked it a lot,” Miller said. “I liked the finish line, how you get to run around the lake at the end, and I liked going below the monogram too. This is a good course all in all.”

The Bald Mountain 10k was the third and last race in the spring series of races put on by Liberty Student Activities, but this was the first to be held at Camp Hydaway. The Arctic 5k Trail Race and the Liberty Mountain 5k Trail Race both started and ended at the Snowflex Centre.

Timothy Shafer, a Liberty student, won the race with a time of 40:25. Miller and his friend, freshman Matt Merry, finished 13 and 15. The two considered this an accomplishment, having never participated in a 10k race before.

“I did really well,” Miller said. “I never ran that far before. I was trying to train by going on the track at school, but I got sick last week. So I only made it up to five and a half miles. I don’t know how I did so well.”

Many runners were impressed by Student Activities’ job of putting on the race. Senior Liberty students Matthew Henry and Dawn Supper were grateful for the free breakfast provided for the runners.

“They blew my expectations out of the water,” Henry said.

Music, free T-shirts for participants, handmade trophies, free pizza and raffles for gift certificates to Riverside Runners, a store that helped sponsor the race, made sticking around after the race more enjoyable.

Student Activities staff member Devin Gatling helped host the event, along with event supervisor Amanda Jacobsen and race supervisor Josh Yeoman.

“It takes a lot to run,” Gatling said. “It takes a couple of days. We promote it at least a month or six weeks ahead of time, and Josh goes out and scouts the trail, marks the trail. We work with Riverside Runners, Rehab Associates of Viriginia and a lot of different sponsors.”

Medals were given out to the first, second and third place runners in each age group, and the overall male and female winners were given trophies worthy of their accomplishments.

“All the trophies we have, we make from scratch,” Gatling said. “They carve those.”

The wooden trophies featured the eagle from the race’s logo.

Student Activities will host another race series in the fall, and information about that race will be posted in the fall at liberty.edu/sa. Race results for Saturday’s Bald Mountain 10k can be found there as well.