SEQUIM — The Larson family of Port Angeles came, saw and conquered at the annual Sequim Railroad Bridge Run Saturday morning.
The Sequim Railroad Run is the second in a series of five Run the Peninsula races put on by the Port Angeles Marathon Association, which also managed the North Olympic Discovery Marathon in June in Port Angeles.
More than 330 runners completed the 5-kilometer and 10K races.
Title sponsors are the Peninsula Daily News and the Sequim Gazette, while the presenting sponsors are the Olympic Medical Center and Sound Community Bank.
Proceeds go to several groups, including the Peninsula Trails Coalition, which builds and maintains the trail.
Leia Larson of Port Angeles, a middle school student, won the women’s 5K at the Sequim Railroad Run on Saturday. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Langdon Larson, a cross-country and distance runner for the Port Angeles Roughriders, won the men’s 10K race in a time of 35 minutes, 0 seconds, outpacing second-place runner Michael Higuera (39:20) by more than four minutes.
“I really liked it,” Langdon Larson said of the course. “Nice and flat.”
Larson also won the Elwha Bridge Run in February.
His younger sister, Leia Larson, not yet in high school, won the Elwha Bridge Run in a near-photo finish. She won Saturday’s Railroad Bridge women’s 5K much more easily in 21:37.
Coming in second place was another member of the Larson family, Jeanne Larson, with a time of 25:14.
Leia’s time was the third-fastest overall.
The best 5K time was by Jesse Tsai of Brier, who won the men’s 5K in 17:49, with a huge gap of 3½ minutes over second-place runner Dylan Zehr of Maple Valley (21:23).
Tsai came in second the Elwha Bridge Run 10K to Langdon Larson.
Langdon Larson of Port Angeles, a distance runner for the Roughriders’ track team, won the men’s 10K at the Sequim Railroad Run on Saturday. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Winning the women’s 10K was another repeat winner, Katherine Braun of Port Angeles, in 47:32. She took first in the September 2021 Great Olympic Adventure Trail Run half-marathon, which is part of the Peninsula Adventure Sports series separate from Run the Peninsula.
The women’s 10K had a close finish with Braun winning by 17 seconds over Alison Skinner of University Place.
The race featured sunny skies and near-perfect weather, a vast improvement over torrential rain, snow and sleet at sea level that pummeled the Olympic Peninsula last weekend.
“Fantastic day for a run,” race director Victoria Jones said as 10K runners and walkers trickled in to the finishing line Saturday.
“This (race) has one of the most beautiful start/finish lines,” Jones said of the park’s historic railroad bridge structure. “I love to see (the runners) in this long finish line chute.”
A total of 173 runners completed the 5K, while another 166 finished the 10K.
The next event in the Run the Peninsula series is the North Olympic Discovery Marathon from Blyn to Port Angeles on June 5.
For complete results, people can go online at www.tinyurl.com/RailroadBridgeResults2022.
Jesse Tsai of Brier won the men’s 5K at the Sequim Railroad Run on Sunday. (Michael Dashiel/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
The top 10 finishes in each event include:
Men’s 10K — Langdon Larson, Port Angeles, first, 35:00; Michael Higuera, PA, second, 39:20; Robert Condurant, Chimacum, third, 42:25; Allan Anderson, Bremerton, fourth, 43:25; Mark Davis, Gig Harbor, fifth, 44:38; Benjamin Stein, Sequim, sixth, 47:12; Colbey Livingston, Oak Harbor, seventh, 48:13; Curtis Stretchbery, Hoodsport, eighth, 51:17; Nick Thomas, Allyn, ninth, 51:33; Andrew Watson, Beaver, 10th, 52:11.
Women’s 10K — Katherine Braun, PA, first, 47:32; Alison Skinner, University Place, second, 47:49; Liz Mills, Bellevue, third, 48:49; Eleanor Gould Jones, Sequim, fourth, 49:12; Laura Gould, Sequim, fifth, 49:13; Elissa Bell, Woodinville, sixth, 49:13; Tonya Woodward, Forks, seventh, 49:53; Rebecca Gundersen, PA, eighth, 50:50; Rebecca Jacobsen, Puyallup, ninth, 51:31; Allison Adamich, PA, 10th, 52:46.
Men’s 5K — Jesse Tsai, Brier, first, 17:49; Dylan Zehr, Maple Valley, second, 21:23; Albert Seafeldt, third, Seattle, 22:26; Jackson Laboy, Sequim, fourth, 22:33; Derek Slife, Sequim, fifth, 23:22; Grady Moon, Seabeck, sixth, 23:36; Dennis Laboy, Sequim, 24:09; Leyton Larson, PA, eighth, 24:13; Rodney Colvin, Marysville, ninth, 25:39; Don McGillivray, Sequim, 10th, 26:03.
Women’s 5K — Leia Larson, PA, first, 21:37; Jeanne Larson, PA, second, 25:14; Heather McGivern, Poulsbo, third, 26:43; Maisy French, fourth, 26:53; Cary Foster, Bainbridge, 26:55; Emily Perkins, Sequim, sixth, 27:13; Aimee Olbu, Marysville, seventh, 27:15; Miwa Seafeldt, Seattle, eighth, 28:50; Rebecca Winn, PA, ninth, 29:49; Tiare Bailey, Port Ludlow, 10th, 29:51.
The Larson family of Port Angeles, which won the men’s 10K and the women’s 5K (and had two other top-10 finishes), talks at the finish line at the Sequim Railroad Run on Saturday. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
