Eight hundred runners pin their ears back for Bunny Palooza Five and Dime

The Bethany Beach Bunny Palooza 10K and 5K races were run under boardwalk brisk conditions March 26, attracting 791 total runners and twice as many ears than feet. The buzzword was fun, featuring lots of families, kids and dogs.

Jeff Young, 24, from Wayne, Pa., was the overall winner of the 10K in 35:28. The longer distance attracted 218 runners. Young was followed on the leaderboard by Sean Nagorny, 36, 35:56; Andrew Shearer, 52, 37:50; Jason George, 28, 38:59; and Patrick Benko, 35, 40:47.

Susan Dunn, 38, a former Delmar Wildcat, won the women’s 10K in 42:07. She was followed by Jaime Holmes, 40, 43:19; Michelle Calvert, 36, 44:32; Pam Jock, 45, 45:07; and Nicole Deprey, 15, 45:17.

The 5K race, which offered half the elective misery for those running with bunny ears, attracted 573 athletes - yes, bunny rabbits are athletes. The race was won by University of Chicago by way of Calvert Hall Owen Melia in a time of 17:00. Owen was chased to the finish line by Merrecia James, 30, in a time of 18:21. Merrecia is also a middle distance specialist, 800/1,500, and will compete for a spot on the Jamaican team in early summer.

The male leaderboard following Melia included Walt Zeller, 42, 19:24; Doug Dushuttle, 30, 19:28; Tim Boyle, 22, 19:31; and George Troemel, 51, 19:37.

The female leaderboard following James was Mandy Hajel, 30, 21:18; Kennedy Hayward, 12, 21:19; Ann Melia, 17, 21:42; and Rachel Wrede, 33, 22:34.