Health

Hundreds participate in 36th annual Mission 10 Race

San Benito County resident Heidi Moakler placed third in women's 5K race.
Children do warm up exercises before their race. Photo by Noe Magaña.
Children do warm up exercises before their race. Photo by Noe Magaña.
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Runners around California gathered Jan. 26 on the Mission San Juan Bautista lawn to kick off the Mission 10 Race.

The 36th annual race, organized by the Rotary Club of Hollister, included a kids' one-mile fun run, 5K (3.1 miles), 10-mile and half-marathon (13.1 miles). Proceeds from the race will benefit community service programs and college scholarships, according to the Rotary website. 

San Juan Bautista Mayor Cesar Flores welcomed runners prior to the first race, which started a few minutes after 8 a.m.

The only San Benito County resident that placed during Mission 10, according to SVE Timing results online, was Heidi Moakler from Hollister with a 22:34 time, third best in the women's 5K race. The website also states 765 people participated in the events.

Alan Samuels from Prunedale won the half-marathon, posting a 1:20:25 time for the men's division. He was followed by Los Banos resident Raymond Rodriguez (1:26:58) and Yasutaka Ihara (1:27:00) from Los Gatos. 

For the women's division, Nancy Eubanks from Turlock crossed the finish line first with a 1:36:23 time. Morgan Hill resident Angie Banks was second (1:37:46)  followed by Rachel Coons (1:40:22) from Alamo. 

Watsonvile resident Justin Carrancha took first place in the men's division for the 10-mile race with a time of 55:02. Nicholas Merillana crossed the finish line second with a 56:41, beating third place runner Guillermo Cuevas by 10 seconds. 

Daniela Salazar took the first place honors in the women's division, posting a time of 1:06:08. Monica Ruelas was second (1:06:35) and Samantha Forde was third (1:07:49).

 

 

Noe Magaña

Noe Magaña is BenitoLink Co-Editor and Content Manager. He joined BenitoLink as reporter intern and was soon brought on staff as a BenitoLink reporter. He also experiments with videography and photography. He is a San Benito High School alumnus with a bachelor's in journalism from San Jose State and a Liberal Arts Associate's Degree from Gavilan College. Noe also attended San Jose City College and was the managing editor for the City College Times, the school's newspaper. He was a reporter and later a copy editor for San Jose State's Spartan Daily. He is a USC Center for Health Journalism 2020 California Fellow.