As skies cleared after a late evening thunderstorm, the Rincon Mountains gave way to a beautiful sunrise and kicked off the start of the 34th Annual Saguaro National Park Labor Day Run and a new season for the Southern Arizona Roadrunners.

After a beautiful rendition of the national anthem sung by Jackie Gill, the race began. Over 600 participants took on the challenge of the scenic eight-mile loop, many returning just to see if they could better their times from previous years. Over 120 runners and walkers opted for the 2 Mile Run anxious to see their friends and relatives finish the 8 miler.

A repeat of last year's performance had Greg Wenneborg, 36, winning his eighth Labor Day Run in 43:43, followed by Rick Fenno (1st Master) in 46:16, Paula Morrison taking the women's win in 50:52, followed by Janet Stamper-Holland as the Women's Masters champ in 56:27.

"I felt good today and had a good run," said Wenneborg who is getting ready for the Olympic Marathon trials.

The Senior Masters awards went to Dave Hill, 52, who ran a 50:16 and Michelle Hill, 52, who finished in 1:03:51. Paul Flanagan, 72, and Dee Chadwick Pierson, 56, won the Best To Beat Their Age In Time Awards. Allen Bauer and Ashley Ruttencutter, 10, won the 2M Fitness Run/Walk. A 1993 Saguaro tee shirt won the "Oldest Saguaro T contest" courtesy of Chuck Scharf.

Saguaro clouds and a slight breeze greeted runners from many different places coming to do this race after reading the Runner's World article last year. Visitors came from Arkansas, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee and British Columbia. Our heartfelt thanks to all the great volunteers who got up very early on Labor Day morning to just come out and help. A special thanks to Dennis Richards who organized the race day registration process, our course set up drivers Gary Denny, Jim Reed, Tim Koski; Susy Bacal and Doug Kelly who took care of registration outside the park and all showed up at 4:30 a.m. to help! We had many more volunteers — we couldn't do it without you! The four aid stations were thanks to Saguaro High School and Santa Rita High School Cross Country teams and Tucson Tri Girls.

And then to our sponsors...We can't thank our main sponsor enough for his interest and contribution - to John Corbett and Greg at All About Running & Walking, we thank you! Our thanks also to Craig Dabler Jewelers for the beautiful watches for the first place winners and the Mystery Awards, Great Harvest Bread, Mizuno for their shoe prizes, eegee's, Oasis Bottled Water, Pepsi's Aquafina, Motion Potion and Mercury energy drink and Fitness Plus.

We were most proud of presenting the Rob Bell Memorial Award to Jennifer Argraves who has been a great motivator of young people in the community. In the spirit of Rob Bell, Jennifer joins the team of Connie Lopez and Bill Chapdelain.

The race directors, Pam Reed and myself, Elisa Kinder, would like to thank all the runners for their participation, their positive comments and their assistance in helping us keep the park clean, making our job a lot easier and ensuring we keep our invitation to return to Saguaro National Park next year.

The comments from our home folks and our visitors were very positive — and yes, we need more porta potties. But none of us guessed we would break the 700 mark. To all of you who participated, we thank you and appreciate your early morning Labor Day appearance. Pam Reed and Elisa Kinder, Race Directors hope you come back next year.