HOLMES BEACH – The 13th Annual Dolphin Dash today was a success, thanks in part to weather that was cool enough for the runners, but not too cold.
Organizer Kelly Gitt of the Anna Maria Elementary (AME) School PTO said more than 200 runners participated in the 5K competition, sanctioned and timed by the Bradenton Runners Club, and the one-mile “fun run” for youngsters.
This year a number of runners for the 5K race were children, many of them from Anna Maria Elementary School. One AME alumnus, Trina Rizzo, was competing for the first time. She’s a college graduate headed for a career in law.
Ellen Jaffee Jones, a former columnist for The Sun, said she has run the Dolphin Dash many times and enjoys it because it “Never changes. I love it because it’s a block from the beach and there are so many kids running,” she said. “I like to be around children.”
The fastest male was Corey Peryark, a board member of the Bradenton Runners Club who came in first by quite a margin.
The fastest woman was Wendy Hudson of Apollo Beach. She said she ran the race because she used to live on the Island.
Seven-year-old Ezra Goble ran the 5K and finished and some kindergartners ran the one-mile run.
It was all in fun, and designed to encourage the kids to make running a part of their lives.
