By BRIAN WOODSON
BLUEFIELD, Va. — How much does Richard Ferguson love to race?
When Tropical Storm Hanna washed out his opportunity to run on Saturday morning, the Danville, Va., resident made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Bluefield.
“It’s a pretty drive, and I stopped on the way at some produce places,” he said, with a laugh. “My wife wants to me do that better than anything.”
It was well worth the trip, as Ferguson won the inaugural Jason Elswick Scholarship Challenge 5K Run and Walk, sponsored by Bluefield College.
“I just wanted to race and I got what I wanted,” Ferguson said.
A product of Tazewell High School, Jason Elswick dreamed of being a math teacher. However, Elswick was tragically killed in a car accident in October of 2005 during his junior year at Bluefield College.
His parents, David and Pam Elswick, refused to let his memory die.
“We were proud of him as a student and as a father and a mother,” David Elswick said. “We’re so proud, we miss him very much, but this is one of the ways we can carry on his legacy of being that school teacher.”
The Elswick have worked with Bluefield College in creating a scholarship fund to assist Tazewell County students financially in their dreams of advancing their education at the Virginia-based school.
“Jason really loved Tazewell County and this area and he really loved Bluefield College and he wanted to attend school here,” Elswick said. “After his sudden death in an automobile accident his mother and I wanted to do something in his memory to carry on his legacy of wanting to be a school teacher in Tazewell County.”
Saturday was one of those events meant to help raise funds for the scholarship. A good time was had by all, including Tazewell High School teacher Charity McDaniel, who won the women’s overall title with a time of 29:04.
“It was a good run, it was longer, the trails added a little adventure to it, but it was great,” said McDaniel, the organizer of the “Varmint Run” in Burke’s Garden and the coach of the new Bluefield College cross country team, which runs its first-ever event next Saturday at Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C. “She did a really good job and it’s for a good cause.
“This is the first 5K I have run in about five years where I have been doing the distances. It was tougher than I thought it would be.”
“She” is Annie Harris, the organizer of the event, who was pleased with 27 runners and 10 walkers that turned out for the inaugural run and walk. The trek started at the college, ran down College Avenue, circled back to the newly-opened nature trails at Bluefield City Park and ended in front of the Dome gymnasium.
“We’re hoping this will be an annual event, and with the turnout that we’ve had and the comments that I’ve heard from the runners, we’ll be doing this again,” Harris said. “It’s in (Jason’s) memory and the money that we raise from our sponsors are going totally to the scholarship fund.
“We’re going to be able to almost double the endowment of the scholarship fund.”
Ferguson is a familiar face in area running circles. He’s participated in numerous races across the region, winning the Mountain Festival event several times. When rain wiped out his previous plans, he made other plans.
“The reason I came up is with the tropical storm everything up my way had been canceled,” said Ferguson, who has run in four Boston marathons, three New York marathons and participated in a pair of Olympic trails, also in the marathon. “I was supposed to run a race of 15 miles down the road from my house, but everything had been canceled and I was ready to race so I drove all the way up here.
“I felt kind of sluggish, I didn’t get lot of warm-up time.”
Leave it to an experienced runner to know that the 5K, which is usually 3.1 miles, was actually a little longer (3.45) on this day. Ferguson finished in 20 minutes and 53 seconds in his quest to just keep on competing as long as he can.
“I just want to keep running, in my younger days I was trying to make Olympic teams and things like that, but obviously, I don’t really have any specific goals right now,” said the 50-year-old Ferguson. “I thought about going back and running Boston this year and maybe trying to win the over-50 (category).
“With my marathon training, I am adjusting and I can’t seem to find what I need to do. It might take a little bit more experimentation.”
The highlight of Ferguson’s career probably happened in 1984, finishing 11th in the Boston Marathon.
“That’s probably the neatest race I’ve run,” Ferguson said. “It was a good day because I came from way back and I was hauling all the way the last six miles. It was neat, I wish I could do it again.”
Ditto for Saturday’s participants. Everyone, from the youngest (14-year-old walker Steve Nelson) to the oldest (60-plus runners Jimmy Miller and Tom Davis) were presented medals and plaques. That included the top walkers in the event, Samuel Comer (54:11) and Pam Brewster (54:12).
The Elswicks were there, presenting those awards and posing for photos with each participant, continuing their dream of honoring the memory of their son, who loved his time spent at Bluefield College.
“He loved how the professors interacted with them,” Elswick said. “It’s a small school, a small community and he wanted to stay at home.
“That was the great thing about it, he wanted to stay at home and here it afforded him the opportunity to do that.”
Now his parents are doing the same for others with the same hopes and dreams.
“Our first fundraiser took place at the Pizza Hut in Tazewell and it was very successful and when we saw how successful it was, we just wanted to continue on with it,” Elswick said. “I thought of this run because I used to run and I thought about this and the way we could raise some funds in his memory and carry on his legacy and it’s been very successful.
“This is our first annual race and hopefully we can continue it on next year and continue raising money.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com
*****
5K Run
Men
Overall Winners: 1. Richard Ferguson, Danville 20:53; 2. Christopher Smith 21:20; 3. Robert Hudson 21:41
Ages 15-19: Bryan Scruggs 23:28
Ages 20-24: Greg DeGray 29:13
Ages 25-29: Brian Wright 29:24
Ages 35-39: 1. Steve Pruitt 22:22; 2. Steve Lester 22:36; 3. Daniel Delp 29:47
Ages 45-49; 1. Dewayne Belcher 22:50; 2. Ed Blair 36:41
Ages 50-54: 1. Dan Pellillo 33:33; 2. Walter Shroyer 38:42
Ages 55-59: 1. Tom Gordon 32:29; 2. Hank Burnley 32:29
Ages 60-64: 1. Jimmy Miller 28:40; 2. Tom Davis 30:01
Women
Overall Winners: 1. Charity McDaniel 29:04; 2. Vonda Wilson 31:44; 3. Amanda Mahnken 32:59
Ages 15-19: Lyndsey Barton 33:16
Ages 25-29: Jessica Bandy 34:38
Ages 30-34: 1. Senah Saferight 33:35; 2. Jennifer Gruenke 51:08
Ages 45-49: Pamela Roberts 34:37
Ages 50-54: Mickey Pellillo 37:24
5K Walk
Men
Overall Winners: 1. Samuel Comer 54:11; 2. Keith Janovec 57:17
Ages 14-under: Steven Nelson 1:10.58
Female
Overall Winners: 1. Pam Brewster 54:12; 2. Amanda Grose 57:19; 3. Ruth Blankenship 59:05
Ages 30-34: Jody Jeffries 1:09.00
Ages 45-49: Lisa Mallory 59:48
Ages 50-54: Elesia Jeffries 1:09.02
