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| Racheal Alvstad / Scroll |
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| Runners take off from the starting line at the sound of the gun, beginning the Midnight 5K, Oct. 7. More than 150 students ran the race, which started in the BYU-Idaho Stadium and led around the campus. |
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As the clock struck midnight, the gunshot sounded, letting loose the anxious group of over 150 runners on a 5K race around the campus.
Sam Brien, a freshman from Longview, Wash., took first place at the Midnight 5K, Oct. 7, with a 15 minutes 10 seconds time.
“I just wanted to stick with the leaders, but that turned out differently,” Brien said. “It’s cool to be able to win sometimes, but that isn’t the big thing. It was fun just to be involved in the race.”
Over 150 students participated in the race, which coordinators estimated to be about 2.8 miles (a standard 5K is 3.1 miles). Before it began, and amidst the pre-race stretching, students filled the BYU-Idaho Stadium with excitement and anticipation.
They began the race with a lap around the stadium track. The bulk of the course led the participants around campus. After leaving the stadium, participants ran past the Jacob Spori and Oscar A. Kirkham Buildings, through the girls’ dorms, to Second East Street. Upon reaching The Ridge Apartments, they then jogged down 7th South Street to College Avenue and back to the stadium.
Brien had already run a 5K for the BYU-I cross country team earlier that day, placing fifth. He said he didn’t expect to feel so fresh upon running at midnight and was thrilled to have won.
Just over three minutes after he finished, the first girl, Bridget Galbraith, a sophomore from Calgary, Alberta, crossed the finish line with an 18:26 time.
“It was such a good race. It had a perfect balance of up hill and down hill. It felt good,” said Galbraith, who runs on average 25 miles a week and has even run a marathon. “This race was tons of fun.”
Among the rest of the racers, some came with aspirations of victory, though others hoped only to cross the finish line. Mike Innes, a sophomore from Cardston, Alberta, finished after 37 minutes, simply happy to say he’d run the race.
“I did it. My goal was 45 minutes, and I did it in 37,” said Innes. “I’ve never run before. [The course] wasn’t too bad. I had to walk a good chunk; but hey, that’s life.”
Some participants ran in pairs, like friends Kandyce Costly and Leena Andrus. “We pushed each other. I told myself, if Leena can do it, I can too,” said Costly, a sophomore from Riverton, Utah.
“[The race] was great,” said Derik Taylor, advisor of the Sports Events Program. “These are the kind of events we like — lots of participation and everyone having fun.”
