The 28^th iteration of the Bucks 5K Series presented by Advanced Spine and Sports Medicine kicked off Saturday, March 23. Nearly 400 runners registered for the Blaze of Glory 5K run. Proceeds from the aptly named race benefit the Plumsteadville Volunteer Fire Company. Hundreds of runners braved the conditions as they slogged through the rainy and windy weather to participate in the 18^th annual Blaze of Glory 5K and 1^st Alarm Fun Color run.

The highly competitive event featured fast times and several age group course records as a quality field ran in conditions more suitable for webbed waterfowl than biped distance runners. Garrett Hynson of Doylestown clocked an impressive 17:30.28 to outdistance Matthew D’Andrea of Doylestown to win the men’s division. In the women's division Kellie Shimer of Richlandtown rocked a 20:44.44 sneaking past Emily Weiss of Conshohocken for the overall female finish.

In the age-graded masters division, Jen Zenszer of Fort Washington narrowly edged out her closest rival with a very respectable 73.57 score and the legendary Bob Boland bested all runners by a large margin with an impressive 82.01.

Several course records were set, Isha Awasthi set the 9-11 course record last year and this year set the 12-14 record with a time of 21:05.83. Garrett Hynson, the overall winner, set a new 30-34 course record. Ruth King of Ambler broke the 70-74 course record racing a 31:12:33, removing the record set last year by New Britain's Danielle Millet. Danielle would not be record-less for long as she demolished the 75-79 course record by more than 10 minutes, clocking a record-breaking 34:03.08 (33:44:58 chip time). To find all of the Blaze of Glory 5K race results please visit bucks5kseries.com.

Post-race runners and volunteers feasted on delicious chocolate milk compliments of Penn View Farms as well as WOW Cookies and smoothies from Planet Smoothie.

Race director Charlie Rumble was pleased with the turnout and dished out effusive praise for his amazing crew of volunteers who endured the difficult weather to help make this event a huge success.

The next race in the Series is the Be Kind 5K on Saturday, April 13^th at Holicong Park in Buckingham. The event promises to be an epic one. The Be King 5K proceeds benefit the local cancer community. The race is in its second year and was one of the largest first-year 5K races in recent history.

I’ll see you at the races,

Johnny King-Marino