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Photo by Johnny Wagner

This one was for the kids.

A pair of teenagers — David Norris and Crystal Pitney — led the way on a warm Friday morning in the Independence Day Run.

Norris won the 5-kilometer run that attracted a field of 74 runners with a time of 17 minutes, 24 seconds. That was 40 seconds ahead of his nearest competitors, Jacob Remington (18:04).

Peter Leonard took the third spot in 18:23, followed by Josh Ray in 18:29 and Geoffrey Ames in 18:58.

Pitney won the women’s division of the race that started and finished near the Ice Alaska parking lot off Phillips Field Road in 19:19, beating out former West Valley High School teammate Christina Gillis by 47 seconds. Pitney finished 10th overall and Gillis (20:06) was 12th.

Rounding out the top five women were Karma Roth in 21:47, Erica Blake in 22:42 and Rita Spann in 23:01.

The event was held as a fundraiser for the North Pole High School cross-country running team.

Complete results are in today’s Sports Scoreboard on page D2.

Looking ahead

There’s a big week of running activities on the docket starting later this week.

Equinox Marathon director Steve Bainbridge will begin a series of training runs geared toward getting people ready for the 46th annual Equinox Marathon in September. The first Equinox Training Run of the season is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday. It starts and finishes at the Patty Center parking lot on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

Kids cross country races are scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at the West Valley High School Track.

The 16th annual Sourdough Triathlon, which includes a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run, is slated for 10 a.m. on July 12 at 41 Mile Steese Highway.

Finally, the Ester Dome Ass Kicker will take place at 10 a.m. on July 13 at the Ester Gold Camp. The 6.75-mile run climbs through the hills of Ester, climbs Ester Dome and returns.