Melissa Murphy, of Bartow, the daughter of Mike and Karen Murphy, won the Run For It 5-kilometer (3.2 mile) race in Davis on Saturday morning. The annual race, held in conjunction with the Leaf Peepers Festival, provides a large cash purse that allows competitors to raise money for their favorite community cause. More than 1,000 racers participated in all categories of the race. The race course winds through the streets of hilly Davis in Tucker County.
Murphy won her 14-19 age group with a time of 24:51. She also won a $1,000 cash prize, which will benefit Pocahontas County Senior Citizens.
The PCHS junior said the race course was tough.
“It seemed mostly uphill,” she said. “It was one of the more difficult ones that I’ve run. I guess I wasn’t expecting as many hills.”
Despite the challenge, Murphy had fun.
“I really liked doing this race,” she said. “I definitely want to do it next year. And the festival was really nice. Everything was set up there really nice. It was a lot of fun.”
Murphy also feels good about helping a good cause.
“My grandma goes down to the seniors center and they do a lot for my grandma,” she said. “It gets my grandma out of the house and socializing. She goes down and does the exercising and stuff. I’m just glad my grandma can go down there and enjoy other people and their company. So, if it means they get a little extra money down there for whatever they need to do or whatever trips they want to take, I would like that to happen.”