World Vision Runners - provided by DVA

Sunday was the inaugural 13.1 Minneapolis Half Marathon. Part of the event proceeds support World Vision‘s work with clean water in Kenya (the same as my fundraising).

The Inaugural 13.1® Minneapolis took more than 2,500 runners and walkers on a course filled with festivities, beautiful scenery and live entertainment. Kicking off near St. Anthony Main and ending at Nokomis Park, the half marathon and Karhu 5K, proved to truly be where the party met the pavement.

Coming in first was Chad Ernst, 22, a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, with a time of 1:13:50. “I was pleased with

everything about the race, especially finishing first,” said Ernst, who has been running since he was ten years old

but had never won a race this large. Other top male runners included Christian Mihelich, coming in second at

1:16:32, followed closely by Jonathon Balabuck who finished the race at 1:17:38.

The first female to cross the finish line was Leah Thorvilson, 31, with a time of 1:26:11. Thorvilson recently

qualified for the Olympic trials marathon team and has run over 150 races in the past 3 years. “I’ve competed

in a lot of races and was really impressed with this one, particularly the turn out for an inaugural race,” said

Thorvilson.

Charity partner Team WorldVision has raised more than $150,000 and expects to top the $200,000 mark overall

for the race. The money will go towards providing clean water for more than 68,000 children and families and

90,000 livestock in Kenya, Africa.

Taken from the official release.  Full results can be found here.