Photo: Melinda Palinkas won the Ridge Run with a course record 1:02:57.

KENT CITY (3/25/06) - A wealth of record-book and personal firsts warmed a chilly day at the second annual Ridge Run.

Despite contending with an icy wind over the front half of a hilly course, men's and women's victors in the 15K and 5K races quickened the event's speed standards.

Melinda Palinkas negotiated the roller-coaster 15K course in 1:02:57, besting Gayle Kuipers' record by more than a minute. Angelina Bauer, the distaff half of husband-and-wife champions, strode the swells of the 5K course in 20:26, eclipsing the mark of Rachael Steil by almost a minute and a half. Matthew Denhof, 29, of Caledonia, rolled home in 17:56, undercutting Ryan Powell's record by 49 seconds.

Rick Bauer, with a clocking of 54:53 in the 15K, missed the mark of Jimi Minnema by a little more than two minutes.

Rick, 26, of Holland, the masculine half of the husband-and-wife champions, said he'd begun his running season only a couple weeks earlier. "I just came to run this race as a workout," he said.

The former Central Michigan University runner and current employee of Endurance Sports in Muskegon, a Ridge Run sponsor, got a surprise in the country north of Kent City.

"I didn't expect the hills," he said. "Every mile had a serious hill in it." Angelina Bauer, like her husband, had just begun training for the racing season. The 24-year-old Saugatuck schools Spanish teacher praised the hilly course in one word: "Neat." She took the long climb in the opening half-mile in stride.

"I didn't mind it at all," she said. "I'm pretty good at hills." Palinkas, 15, of Saranac, liked running the gravel roads, even though she didn't exactly take in the country scenery.

"It was kind of a blur," she said.

Her Ridge Run championship and record time came despite inexperience at the distance. "This is the longest race I've done," Palinkas said.

The Kent City event was a first time out for other competitors. Dan Hill, 33, of Plainwell, a Harding's store manager, made the Ridge Run 5K his first race of any kind. After taking up running the previous September, Hill had been training about 12 to 15 miles in three or four outings a week. His race time of 22:22, a 7:12 pace, rewarded him with an age- group medal.

"For the hills, I was pretty pleased with my time," he said. Adam Brown, 15, of Muskegon, made the Ridge Run 15K his first distance test. Brown followed the same pattern of preparation as with his two other races, a pair of 5Ks in 2005, starting his training about two- and-a-half weeks before the event. Prior to the Ridge Run he'd logged about 40 miles all told.

He covered the rolling country north of Kent City in 1:07:48, a 7:17 pace. According to Brown, the first six miles were tough, especially mile five, with some steep climbs.

"Then I got a second wind," he said.

Race director Jill Evers-Bowers, Kent City High School boys and girls cross-country coach and girls track coach, featured a 15K race in late March on purpose. The timing offered an early tuneup for runners eyeing the Fifth Third River Bank 25K Run in Grand Rapids May 13. The hills gave the race an added draw.

"It's definitely rolling," Evers-Bowers said.

Because a registration of about 290 competitors in the first annual running swamped organizers, Evers-Bowers added timing services from Great Lakes ChampionChip for 2006. The addition helped warm the day for 346 runners and walkers, 307 of whom crossed the finish line. Their entry fees benefited Kent City running programs.

Evers-Bowers added a perk for hardcore racers the second time around.

"We were proud this year to be a part of the points races for the Muskegon Running Club," she said. MR