Moore ready to defend title

Published 12:13 am Friday, April 20, 2007

THOMASVILLE — The 26th annual Rose City 5K Walk will be held Saturday with one of the strongest fields ever.

Of the more than 1,300 walkers from cities in Georgia and Florida that have registered in the event are course record holder Gene Opheim of Tallahassee, Fla., Joel Carter, Steve Moore and Will Watt.

Moore won last year’s race with a time of 30:03.

“I’ve been working on a project in North Carolina so a lot of my weekends have been up there and I haven’t been able to train like I normally do,” Moore said. “I try to definitely walk 4-5 times a week.

“I’ll give it my best shot, I don’t ever lay down. Looks like the weather’s going to be very good for it.”

Opheim recorded the course’s fastest time in 1992 with a time of 22:28.

Previous female winners include Helen Fennelly, Chris Bynum, Rachel Cooper, Pam White and Nancy Herring.

Fennelly set the course female record with a time of 26:06.

Dr. Jim Story, co-director of the Rose City Run Event along with his wife, Carolyn, will instruct walkers at 8:15 a.m., which will be followed by a welcome from Mayor David Lewis.

The race begins at 8:30 a.m. following the walkers’ prayer by Reverend Hugh Rockett of the Merrillville Baptist Church and the playing of the national anthem by Miss Katie Trotter on her violin.