More than 300 hit the bridge

PORT ANGELES — The Run the Peninsula series returned in full force Saturday with a group start and more than 300 runners and walkers on the Elwha River Bridge.

The Elwha River Bridge 5K/10K Run is the inaugural run of the five-race Run the Peninsula series. The race is sponsored by the Peninsula Daily News and the Sequim Gazette and presented by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Olympic Medical Center.

Port Angeles High School cross-country runner Langdon Larson was the winner of the men’s 10K with a time of 36 minutes, 36 seconds. He won the race by more than a minute, beating out Jesse Tsai of Brier.

Savanna Steffen of Silverdale won the women’s 10K with a time of 42:52, crossing the finish line by a huge margin of two minutes. Natalie Vukic of Seattle came in second with a time of 44:54.

Fourteen-year-old Sean Southard of Sequim, distinctive in his neon green uniform, took first in the men’s 5K with a time of 21:17.

The women’s 5K winner was 13-year-old Leia Larson of Port Angeles, who crossed the finish line a second ahead of Shannon Newman of Maple Valley with a time of 21:57. The race was so close that Newman actually had a faster chip time by a mere second, but started behind Larson in the pack to begin with. Larson won by crossing the finish line first and having a better clock time.

A total of 315 participants ran in the race along the Olympic Discovery Trail west of Port Angeles, with an additional 678 virtual racers registered to date. The virtual race is still open for registration.

Results can be found at https://tinyurl.com/ElwhaBridgeResults, while photos can be found at https://tinyurl.com/ElwhaBridgeRunGallery.

Registration for the remaining races of the 2022 Run the Peninsula Series remains open. The Railroad Bridge Park run will be held on April 23, the 20th Anniversary North Olympic Discovery Marathon on June 4-5, the Larry Scott Trail on Oct. 15 and the Jamestown Glow Run on Dec. 3.

Registration details for all events can be found at www.runthepeninsula.com. People can email rtp@runthepeninsula.com for answers to questions.

Top 10 finishers include:

• 10K men — Langdon Larson, Port Angeles, first, 36:36; Jesse Tsai, Brier, second, 37:48; Johnny McClure, South Colby, third, 40:22; Jacob Morton, Seattle, fourth, 41:05; Michael Higuera, Port Angeles, fifth, 41:42; Robert Bondurant, Chimacum, sixth, 43:13; Paul Larsen, Port Angeles, seventh, 43:54; Noah Isenberg, Port Townsend, eighth, 44:00; Daniel Norberg, Seattle, ninth, 44:27; Michael Cyger, Bainbridge Island, 10th, 47:21.

• 10K women — Savanna Steffen, Silverdale, first, 42:52; Natalie Vukic, Seattle, second, 44:54; Katheryn Kirchhofer, Kingston, third, 47:47; Alison Skinner, University Place, fourth, 47:49; Katherine Braun, Port Angeles, fifth, 47:52; Chelsea Larsen, Port Angeles, sixth, 49:29; Emily Murthy, Silverdale, seventh, 50:33; Tonya Woodward, Forks, eighth, 50:57; Eleanor Gould Jones, Sequim, ninth, 51:12; Laura Gould, Sequim, 10th, 51:12.

• 5K men — Sean Southard, Sequim, first, 21:17; Mark Davis, Gig Harbor, second, 21:23; Dylan Zehr, Maple Valley, third, 22:26; Hans Schippers, Port Angeles, fourth, 22:27; Jackson Laboy, Sequim, fifth, 22:31; Stephen Van Denburg, Port Angeles, sixth, 23:20; Derek Slife, Sequim, seventh, 23:21; Bryant Laboy, Sequim, eighth, 23:56; Robert Neiberger, Allyn, ninth, 24:10; Leyton Larson, Port Angeles, 10th, 24:21.

5K women — Leia Larson, Port Angeles, first, 21:57 (chip time); Shannon Newman, Maple Valley, second, 21:56 (chip time); Leslie Arango, Port Angeles, third, 23:12; Chelsey Slenzikow, Port Angeles, fourth, 23:19; Sylvia Butterfield, Port Townsend, fifth, 23:26; Allison Adamich, Port Angeles, sixth, 25:38; Lucy Wait, Port Angeles, seventh, 25:48; Taren Reaves, Forks, eighth, 26:03; Jeanne Larson, Port Angeles, ninth, 26:09; Ashley Atchley, Roy, 10th, 27:36.

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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be reached at plabossiere@ peninsuladailynews.com.