Perrin Boogies to record

Nystuen, Rumsey overall 5K winners, Grossman, Mills claim 10K honors

COLUMBIA FALLS - Zach Perrin is like any other active 12-year-old.

He enjoys playing, in no specific order, football, basketball and soccer.

But Perrin differs when it comes to running.

In a quick four years, he has gone from painfully completing a mile run to posting some pretty impressive times in 5K (3.1 miles) road races around the Flathead Valley.

Saturday, at the annual Boogie To The Bank in Columbia Falls, Perrin finished a remarkable sixth overall out of 209 runners (102 men and 107 women) with a time of 18 minutes, nine seconds. The 5-foot-5, 95-pound seventh-grader from Lakeside averaged 5:51 per mile.

"My mom (Lisa) got me into running," Perrin said. "She's been pushing me ever since."

By pushing, Perrin meant encouragement and help with his training routine - the good kind of pushing.

"I still did sports, but I was pretty lazy before (I started running)," he said. "Sitting on the couch, watching TV."

Not any more.

He's currently running at least 21 miles per week and road racing has become his favorite sporting activity.

"I never ran a race before that one-mile fun run (four years ago)," he said. "I did OK. I was disappointed. I finished second overall."

The next race Perrin tackled was the Whitefish Lake 5K run. He did a three-mile jog the day before the event just to see if he could actually run that far.

"I was tired out, didn't think I would do it (two days in a row)," he said. "In the one-mile run I was dying, so how would I be able to do this?"

But he did.

He also pulled it off in style. His time - 24:30.

And with every race that has followed, his times have continued to drop.

Last year Perrin ran the Boogie in 19:38.4, an 11-13 age bracket male record for the race. He broke that by 1 1/2 minutes on Saturday.

Perrin also holds the 9-10 age group record for the Boogie at 22:27.7.

"I always think there is room for improvement," he said. "I could have gone faster (today) if I pushed myself."

Also running Saturday was his mother, who finished third in the 5K female 30-39 age group with a time of 21:37.1, and his father Mike, first in the 40-49 age bracket at 20:39.4.

"They do all the races with me," he said of his parents. "That's really supporting."

Perrin's two brothers, Jake, 9, and Ben, 6, and sister, Hanna, 4, are also into running.

"She runs a mile," he said of his sister.

Perrin finished third overall in the Lakeside 5K run earlier this month, 19:04. He was 12th overall in the Whitefish Lake 5K run in June, 19:41.6.

"I just love to get out there and run," Perrin said. "Be alone, by yourself.

"I always try to run against myself and improve my time."

Carl Nystuen, also of Lakeside, was the Boogie's 5K overall winner Saturday with a time of 15:54.4.

Kurt Michels, formerly of Kalispell, placed second, 17:15.2, with Dan Howell of Kalispell third, 17:27.9.

Jesse Rumsey of Columbia Falls was the overall 5K female winner, clocked in 19:44.7. Loni Hanson of Whitefish was second, 20:49.3, and Colleen Dalimata of West Glacier third, 20:49.8.

Over in the 10K, top honors went to Seth Grossman of Kalispell, 33:38.7, and Lisa Mills of Aurora, Colo., 40:43.7. Runners-up were Chad Backsen of Sioux Falls, S.D., 33:50.6, and Tera Klein of Kalispell, 42:05.4.

Taking third places were Ian Mallams of Whitefish, 34:22.3, and Lauren Fox of Kalispell, 42:33.

There were 51 runners in the 10K (26 men and 25 women).

In the 5K racewalk (38 participants), Wanda Caddell of Columbia Falls was the top female finisher, 36:28.3, while Barry Schormerhorn of Columbia Falls led the males, 42:54.5.