Nearly 600 runners lined up on Thursday night for the Mennonite 5k/10k Fun Run.

The course ran west along the Allegheny River, crossed at the Rachel Carson Bridge and continued along the opposite shore to the turnaround point.

Matt Jones of LaGrange, Ind., won the 5k with a time of 16:53. Hannah Chappell-Dick from Bluffton, Ohio, was the female winner, at 21:41.

In the 10k race, Lillie Koerner, of Freeman, S.D., was the first woman to finish, at 42:30; Jacob Landis took that honor for the men, in 34:50.

“I’ve never raced a 10k before so I didn’t know what to expect,” Landis said. “I knew if I slowed down I would stop so it was all or nothing.”

Although the race may have been competitive for some, many participants aimed to simply finish or beat personal times.

“I just wanted to do it all without stopping,” said 13-year old Lydia Haggard. She and her father have been training together for five weeks. They both finished with personal bests.

Grace and David Shenk of Mountfield, Pa., have been married for 52 years. This was their first race together.

“She didn’t want to race me because she thought I would leave her behind,” David said. “Today she beat me by two meters.”

The couple say they try to run a mile or two every day. “It was wonderful,” said Grace. “The other racers kept encouraging us, cheering us on.”