By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
A 16-year-old runner bested over 130 competitors Saturday morning to take first place in the Live Young 5K race.
Chandler Mullis, with a time of 18:58, finished ahead of runners who ranged in age from 6 to 75.
Trailing Mullis in the male overall category of the race were Josh Lewis (19:02) and Tom Dimartino (21:04). Leading in the female overall category were Kay Evans (21:12), Tara Carter (22:12) and Dawn Landen (23:11).
Complete race results can be viewed online at www.ecrun.org.
The seventh-annual event, which took place in downtown Washington, was a fundraiser for Young Life on the Pamlico, a nonprofit organization that serves local teenagers.
“Thank you so much to the folks that came out to run, to the sponsors and to Debbie Ainsworth and Beth Page, who were the driving force in getting this together,” said Tom Johnson, area director for Young Life on the Pamlico.
The race raised funds for the Young Life summer camping trip to Windy Gap, located near Asheville. Proceeds will pay for transportation and help with scholarships for teenagers who would otherwise be unable to afford the trip, according to Johnson. Space is still available if local teens want to make the trip, he added, and race T-shirts are still being sold.
Local sponsors help the organization meet the expenses involved in sponsoring the race, Johnson said. This year’s sponsors were Bragaw Insurance, Church of the Good Shepherd, Doctors Vision Center, Doogie and Keith Mason, Gerard Seed Company, Tayloe’s Hospital Pharmacy and Washington Pediatrics.
Young Life on the Pamlico is part of an international youth ministry that was founded in 1940, according to Johnson.
“The mission of Young Life is to seek out adolescents who need that relationship,” Johnson said in an earlier interview with the Daily News. “It’s Christ-centered, but it’s non-threatening. Kids who have fallen between the cracks are really our number one target — kids who have nothing else spiritual in their lives.”
But the group welcomes teenagers from all walks of life.
“You’ll have kids who go to church youth group all the time, kids who are class presidents,” Johnson said. “We’re also here for the kids that have tough lives and are having tough questions.”
The organization currently has eight volunteers who interact with Washington High School students, Johnson added; his dream is to branch out and encompass Southside High School and Northside High School, too.
Teenagers from throughout the area are welcome to attend Young Life’s weekly Monday night gatherings. For more information, contact Johnson at 252-402-5088 or pamlicoyl@gmail.com.