Mason Imhof repeats as Mingo's Miles 5K winner

Both runners were next to each other as they came down the hill on County Road 123 heading to the finish.

“I really enjoy this race – Mingo’s Miles,” said Imhof, who was a baseball player at both Rainy River Community College and Littlefork-Big Falls High School. “Last year was my first 5K ever, so I thought I’d come back and try to repeat.”

Imhof said he and Cowman “were pretty much leg-for-leg, stride-for-stride the whole way.”

In the 2013 race, Imhof’s winning time was 20:08.99, just under 5 seconds ahead of Cowman, who placed third a year ago and is also a distance runner at Falls High School.

When asked about last Saturday’s running conditions, Imhof said he “felt good about the weather.”

“It’s cloudy, but there’s a little breeze, so that was nice,” he said. “It wasn’t too muggy. I’ve been running a lot. I’ve been training a lot.”

Imhof and Cowman finished about 2 minutes ahead of the next-fastest runner, Hailey Silvers, who operates Snap Fitness in the Falls and finished as the top female in 22:28.48.

“It felt good – it was really hot (Saturday), though,” Silvers said. “It was probably one of the hottest (days) that I’ve ran so far this year – very humid.”

Silvers, who also ran in the Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run 10K last January in the Falls, said she prefers running in colder weather.

“I think I prefer the cold-weather running, actually, to the warmer weather like this, but the short distances are fun,” she said.

The next-fastest female, Linda Belanger of the Falls, finished in 22:57.19.

Race results indicate 60 runners and walkers completed the fourth annual 5-kilometer fun run, which is held in conjunction with the Lake Kabetogama Lady Slipper Festival and begins at Voyageur Marine, heading east on County Road 123 (Gappa Road) to Burma Road at Gappa’s Landing and then back.

Medals and ribbons were awarded in every age group.