SHERRILL >> When Michael Dee registered for the third annual Silver Scorcher 5K and 10K road races, he expected to race the streets of Sherrill in hot and muggy conditions.

He, and many other runners, was pleasantly surprised on Saturday morning.

With temperatures near 60 degrees at the start of the races, Dee was the fastest male finisher in the 10K for the second straight year, this time finishing first overall in 37:27.

The time was nearly three minutes better than his mark in 2013.

“It was definitely a good, solid race,” Dee said. “It wasn’t like some kind of personal best. It was a good race though. It was, like, really good weather too.”

Kristen Taylor was the top female finisher, placing sixth overall with a time of 42:32.

A pair of Camden High School runners took the top male and female spots in the 5K. Thomas Collins’ 18:06 was the fastest overall time while Gwen Proper was the fastest female, finishing sixth overall in 20:15.

“It felt good,” said Collins. “Just a local community event. Come out here before cross country starts. It’s a good atmosphere. It’s a good little 5K race and it felt really good. A good preview to the season.”

Andrew Spagnuolo and Isaac Burmingham also represented the Blue Devils well with top five finishes in the 5K. Spagnuolo finished third in 19:43 while Burmingham edged Proper by less than a second for fifth place.

“It’s nice,” said Proper of her and her teammates strong showing. “It kind of gives us a reputation a little bit.”

Over 150 runners competed in the two races, down nearly 50 from last year.

“I did not do much promoting this year,” said organizer Pat Costello. “We kind of let it sustain itself with race calendars. But we’re pretty happy with the turnout.”

Costello expects the event to return for a fourth year in 2015, although it will likely be a single race.

And like the runners, he was very happy with the weather on Saturday morning.

“This is perfect running weather,” he said. “It’s better than we would expect for August. Normally we have the water stations, everybody stops. I think this year, no one stopped.”

Source:Oneida-Dispatch.com