Alaska man wins Freedom 5K

Alaska native Matthew Adams easily won Thursday’s Grateful Nation Montana Freedom 5K run.

Adams finished the race — which started and finished at Brookies Cookies in downtown Bigfork and went up and back the Swan River Nature Trail — in 16:03.33.  Ryan Martine, 35, of Fort Collins, Colo., placed second in 18:50.40.

Bigfork’s Chance Kittle, 16, was third overall in 19:03.49. Kittle’s time also was first in the 17 and under male division.

“It was fun,” said Adams, a Montana State University alum doing graduate-level field research this summer at Waterton Lakes National Park. “It’s a good little hometown race, a simple course, and a really good day for doing it.”

Adams, 25, said he came to the Flathead for a couple days to visit a friend in Lakeside, Carl Nystuen, and wanted to run.

The third annual event — which benefits the children of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan — drew 405 competitors. There were 100-plus runners the first year.

Mark Sandry, 48, of Bigfork, placed ninth in 20:57.98. Ryan Senn, 27, of Bigfork, placed 12th with a time of 21:52.39.

In the 17 and under male division, Whitefish’s Keaton Grove, 16, placed second with a time of 20:18.15. Isaac Martel, 15, of Bigfork, was third in 22:06.12, while Carson Schiller, 13, of Bigfork, was fifth in 22:26.08.

For the women, Karin Bartels, 33, of Missoula, was first with a time of 20:03.43. Rhonda Loo of Lake Newell, Alberta, placed second in 20:21.

Kalispell’s Bailey Smith, 14, was third overall, and placed first in the 17 and under female division with a time of 21:02.29.

Enniroc Notlimah, 15, of Kalispell, was second in the 17 and under division with a time of 21:11.21, while Lakeside’s Hannah Perrin, 10, was third in 27:04.43. Bayley Balderson, 12, of Bigfork, was ninth in 33:21.33.

Lisa Perrin, 44, of Lakeside was fifth in the women’s division with a time of 24:53.21, while Jenn Ballapa, 35, of Bigfork, was seventh in 25:00.43.