Q-C runners clean up at Firecracker
A young adult movement was the theme at the finish line of Friday’s 26th Annual Firecracker 5K and 10K runs held in downtown East Moline.
The women’s 5K was won by 18-year-old Aisha Praught of Moline, while the first woman to cross the finish line in the 10K was 19-year-old Brooke Ashcraft.
The 5K men’s race was won by Dorian Ulrey, 20, of Port Byron, Ill., while Rock Island’s Nathaniel Hird, 21, celebrated his Thursday birthday by winning Friday’s 10K.
For Praught, this was her first time running the Firecracker 5K. She said at first she wasn’t sure if she was in it for the running or for the victory. Praught finished in 18 minutes, 41 seconds. Geneseo’s Kelley Timmerman was second in 19:22.
“After the first few feet, I decided to go for it,” Praught said. “I started to jog, but that didn’t last. Considering this is the first time I ran this 5K, winning it is like icing on the cake.”
After years of coming down the final stretch with people to catch, Ashcraft’s victory was a nice change of pace. She finished in 41:50, while Jennifer Paul of Le Claire, Iowa, was second in 42:18.
“Coming in, I knew there were a lot of good runners in this race, and many who had won the women’s 10K before,” Ashcraft said. “It feels good to now be one of those people who has won this race. I now will have the target on my back next year.”
On the men’s side, Nathaniel Hird was able to keep up the family tradition by winning the 10K with a time of 31:20. His brother, Tim Hird, who finished second in the 5K, won last year’s race.
“After finishing second twice and third twice in past Firecracker runs, I was able to put it all together today,” Nathaniel Hird said. “It felt good to take control of the race from the start. After about the mile-and-a-half, I was able to pull away. It also feels good to keep the Hird winning tradition here.”
Much like Praught, Ulrey said it took him a while to decide why he had come to this year’s run.
“About half-mile in, I separated from everybody else and decided I came here to win this race,” he said. “This was my first 5K in about a year. I think I would have had a better time (than 14:49) if I had had some competition up there to push me.”
Ulrey’s closest competition was Nick Hird, who finished in 15:27.
The two races combined featured 1,342 runners, while an additional 150 children took part in Thursday’s quarter-mile run.
Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com