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RACE INFO ::
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2002 Race Results
2002 Race Report

2002 Race Report.............Brent Mobley

It was four-in-a-row for defending champion Susan Gallagher at the Old-Time 4^th of July 10K run on Thursday. One-hundred-forty-five other runners and walkers from 29 different cities and 10 different states joined Gallagher for the 19^th annual 10K (6.2-mile) run and 3K (1.9-mile) run and walk.

Gallagher, co-owner of a Salem running shoe store, did not go without a challenge, however. Debbie Eide, 46 of Salem, and Meryl Witt, 16, of Albany led the 40-year-old Gallagher from the start. Eide, who was a U.S. representative for the 1983 World Championship Marathon, and Witt, one of the Valley League district’s best from West Albany High School, took the women through the first four miles.

"Meryl and Debbie went out ahead and I just let them go," said Gallagher, a former Kansas University runner and course record holder. " I really didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted to go out and have fun and see how I felt the first three or four miles."

She felt good enough to ease by Eide at the four-mile mark, and then pull ahead of Witt in the last two miles. Gallagher finished with a time of 40:56, 32 seconds ahead of Witt and 58 seconds ahead of Eide.

In the men’s division, Joe Dudman, 38, of Portland led from start to finish to win in 34:30, 73 seconds ahead of Kevin Hutchins, 34, of Salem.

"I’ve run over 40 races since the beginning of the year," said Dudman, who is taking part of the USA Track and Field Association of Oregon’s Grand Prix series of races throughout the state, of which The Old-Time 4^th of July Runs were part of. "I went on to place 4^th in the Monmouth road race later in the day."

In the 3K run, Chris Hollis, 19, of Stayton ran a course record time of 9:23. The record came despite an injury he is nursing. Close behind was his former Stayton High School teammate Jacob Hart, 19, who finished in 9:42.

In the women’s 3K Julia Patton, 15, of Albany took home the crown with a time of 13:30, 12 seconds ahead of Katie Thede, 13, of Salem.

Clear skies with temperatures in the low 60's greeted participants who came as far as Washington, D.C., North Dakota, and New York.

The 10K course extended up to Sublimity and back, whereas the 3K circled the NORPAC plant on city streets.

Sponsored by the Stayton Road Runners Club and the Stayton Mail, proceeds from the event helped sponsor Santiam American Field Service (AFS). Since 1958, Santiam AFS has sent over 50 Statyon-area high school students abroad to study while bringing dozens of foreign students to Stayton.