Irish eyes smiled on the weather Friday as more than 225 runners young and old lined up in front of the Samuel Adams Brewhouse at Fort Knox for the annual Shamrock Shuffle 5k run/walk.
Many donned green apparel to celebrate the St. Patrick's Day event, some with the hope of winning a pre-run cash prize. The categories included best dressed child, man and woman.
Adrian Bogle, one of the event coordinators, said the costumes didn't disappoint.
"Seeing all the different costumes is my favorite part of the event," Bogle said. "Those outfits were outrageous. They usually are."
Though the run is not considered a recorded competitive race, Bogle noted that some still run it to win it.
This year's fastest finisher was Sgt. Andrew Kirwa, from 19th Engineer Battalion and a Fort Knox team competitor at last year's Army 10-Miler, crossing the line at 18:34.
The run brought out more runners than last year's event, due in part to excellent weather at this year's event, according to Bogle. Last year saw 198 turn out to brave the cold and rain. This year's run included some visitors to Fort Knox.
"We had a lot of Reservists who participated this year compared to last year," said Bogle. "We also had 85 register the day of, so I'm thinking a lot of those were waiting on the weather."
Bogle said he was impressed to discover the number participants at last's year run were not that far off despite the bad weather.
"I guess there are a lot of dedicated Shamrock Shuffle runners out there."
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