Families come together to run in memory of loved ones

“When you think you can’t finish, you just think of the people who made it through the storm; they finished,” runner Alvin Eckhoff said.

Record high temperature and high humidity couldn’t keep 124 runners and about 40 walkers from completing the Race of Remembrance Saturday, May 26.

Competitors came from as far away as Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, but the majority hailed from the Aplington and Parkersburg communities.

“It originally started after the tornado, just kind of a remembrance of those people lost and also to celebrate coming back, and the town coming together,” said race organizer Paul Mason of the Parkersburg Rotary Club.

Runners remember the tornado of 2008 with the EF 5K and the life of Ed Thomas with the Ed Thomas 10K.

For the full story, see this week’s Eclipse News-Review. Subscribe by calling 319-346-1461 or by clicking here.