Locals run with the bulls

PALMER -- "It's not the Running Of the Bulls, it is the Running With the Bulls," Roy Corral, executive director of the Musk Ox Farm, said to best describe the non-profit organization's newest fundraiser.

The Musk Ox Farm hosted the first annual Running With the Bulls last Saturday.

Nearly two-dozen athletes turned out to compete in the 5-kilometer run.

The event featured a two-lap course through the pastures of the farm. The runners were able to run right next to the mighty musk ox, who rumbled along in their own enclosed areas.

"We felt this could be a premier event with pictorial pastoral scenes," Corral said.

Corral, who had run in the world-famous Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and his Musk Ox Farm associates have tossed around the idea of hosting such a race for years.

As Corral and his associates became more serious about hosting a similar event in the Mat-Su Valley, local running gurus Mike Janecek and George Plumley were enlisted to help.

Janecek, who is Mr. Running in the Valley, and Plumley, who has brought the technology of countless local events to the Twenty-first century, have teamed up to help run such premiere running events as the Palmer Invitational Cross-country Meet, and the ASAA cross-country and track and field state championships.

"Ideas come and go," Corral said. "Unless you include people (like Janecek and Plumley) it does not become a reality.

"We were very pleased the idea started to gel," Corral said. "Janecek and Plumley were the two key elements."

Corral and his associates are already making plans for the second annual Running With the Bulls. Corral said he hopes to draw runners from across the state and make the race a premiere running event in the Valley.

Final results

1. C. Ess 23:09; 2. R. Foster 23:25; 3. C. Armstrong 25:50; 4. J. Millman 26:18; 5. Che. Ess 26:22; 6. S. Palin 26:25; 7. H. Powder 26:32; 8. B. Hogan27:13; 9. K. Jordan 27:28; 10. D. Matthews 27:30; 11. K Austin 27:44; 12. R. Schwartz 27:55; 13. V. Brickel 29:57; 14. V. Hersey 30:34; 15. D. Little Eagle 30:54; 16. C. Powder 31:48; 17. R. Hills 32:15; 18. A. Hills 34:03; 19. M. Hillis 37:56; 20. S. Powder 41:21; 21. V. Austin 44:30; 22. J. Jordan 45:52; 23. M. Nelson 48:00