Flawless.
That's the word that best describes the performance of those who put on Saturday's News and Sentinel Half Marathon.
The 25th annual race may have been the smoothest ever conducted.
The number of entries was impressive. The weather cooperated. And - as they used to say at the end of virtually every story in weekly newspapers eons ago -a good time was had by all.
But don't take my word for it. Rather, listen to those who participated in the race.
"I am pleased, and yes, proud to say I ran yesterday and that I have now participated in 22 straight Parkersburg Half Marathons, dating back to 1990," Paul Garrard of Shepherdstown said in an e-mail. "I have been running for well over 30 years, and have run internationally in Berlin, London and Rotterdam, plus many other races in the United States. However, when it comes to marking my calendar for the race NOT to miss, it is always Parkersburg.
"Where else can you mingle with (and have your picture taken, with your dog no less) the winners? Where else do you see those hilarious footprints marking your way? Where else would I have a chance to meet and then hire (two time winner) Jon Sinclair as my coach? Where else can you stay one block from both the start and the finish at the magnificent Blennerhassett? Where else can get the most superb pasta dinner ever served by the nicest folks around?And where else will find such support from the volunteers?...''
Garrard concluded, "Parkersburg is it, year after year, simply the best, period the end.''
That's quite an endorsement. But it isn't the only one.
Don Slusser and his wife Tammy of Monroeville, Pa. have participated in 23 of the 25 half marathons. Don, who finished second in the men's walk division after winning it the past three years, said his only regret was missing the first two because he and his wife didn't know about the race.
"I will be here every year,'' said Slusser, who is a great ambassador for the Parkersburg race. "I tell all my friends about the race and encourage them to do it once.''
And once they do it once, like Slusser, they are hooked.
Slusser, who has run in every Pittsburgh Marathon, said he has never seen a community go all-out as does Parkersburg.
"The people along the route are fantastic,'' he said. "You have more volunteers than participants.''
While it is the elite runners who grab the spotlight and the headlines, it is the avid recreational participants like Gerrard and Slusser who keep coming back year after year who make the race what it is.
Those who really make the race are the members of the River City Runners and Walkers Club, who administrate every aspect of the project. It's a major undertaking, but one they make look easy.
If the half marathon had been a baseball contest, Parkersburg would have pitched a perfect game.
