Matt Blunden and Sophie Kellogg take home the loot from the Billy Bowlegs 5K

For four years in a row, 2015 to 2018, Dewayne Riley had won Fort Walton Beach, Florida's Billy Bowlegs 5K. The annual night race was becoming the Dewayne Riley show. But at the 45th annual Bowlegs on Saturday, 1 June 2019, two things changed. The first was that after 44 years of racing after sundown, the Bowlegs became a morning event. The second was Riley didn't win. Instead, Destin, Florida's Matt Blunden galloped across the finish line nearly a minute before any other runner, winning the Bowlegs in 16:00. Twelve-year-old Sophie Kellog took home the women's title, placing seventh overall in 19:37.


Blunden's wining time was the fastest at Bowlegs since 2013, when Adam Saloom was first in 15:45. Four-time champ and Milton, Florida athlete Riley was runner-up in 16:50. Zach Bryan came in third in 17:39. Tim "Boomer" Sullivan was the fastest master runner in the race, placing eighth in the men's standings and ninth overall in 20:42.


Just five days earlier, Blunden had won another race in Okaloosa County, scoring a victory in Eglin Air Force Base's 43rd annual Gate-to-Gate Memorial Day Race. Sophie Kellog, the Bowlegs women's champ, had also raced Gate-to-Gate, placing sixth in the women's division. Ashley Selvey was second to Kellog at Bowlegs, coming in fourteenth overall in 21:21. Brianna Moring was the third woman and fifteenth overall in 21:39. Sheryl Downs was Bowlegs' top woman master, the seventh female finisher and 25th overall in 22:53.


The Billy Bowlegs 5K takes it's name from Fort Walton Beach's Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival, a celebration founded on the mistaken notion that the pirate William Bowles had the nickname "Billy Bowlegs." Regardless of the name, in five different decades and two different centuries the Bowlegs 5K has been an important date on the athletic calendar of the Emerald Coast. 333 athletes finished the 2019 Billy Bowlegs 5K.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Billy Bowlegs 5K Night Race

1. 16:00, Matt Blunden (M, 39)
2. 16:50, Dewayne Riley (M, 32)
3. 17:39, Zach Bryan (M, 27)
4. 18:09, Gregg Lamb (M, 32)
5. 18:10, Philip Bauer (M, 37)
6. 19:33, Cade Mayfield (M, 15)
7. 19:49, Lucas Thompson (M, 33)
8. 20:42, Tim Sullivan (M, 60)
9. 20:49, Logan Escobedo (M, 16)
10. 20:57, Michael Ayers (M, 34)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Billy Bowlegs 5K Night Race

1. 19:37, Sophie Kellogg (F, 12)
2. 21:21, Ashley Selvey (F, 33)
3. 21:39, Brianna Moring (F, 25)
4. 22:02, Sarah Kellogg (F, 12)
5. 22:16, Brigid Guiterrez (F, 26)
6. 22:51, Emily Kellogg (F, 14)
7. 22:53, Sheryl Downs (F, 53)
8. 23:34, Samantha Yanez (F, 20)
9. 23:45, Jourdan Perrin (F, 28)
10. 23:56, Donna Harris (F, 50)

Billy Bowlegs Midnight Run winners, 1975 - 2017
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
31 May 1975	Mike Clay	Cathy Sigler	82
5 June 1976	14:30*, Tim Simpkins	17:11*, Esther Stovall	132
4 June 1977	14:33*, Ken Misner	17:37*, Nancy McCormac	202
3 June 1978	14:48*, Jeff Galloway	17:43*, Nancy McCormac	~450
2 June 1979	14:58.5*, Mike Conley	17:52*, Dolly Harrison
31 May 1980	14:43*, Fred Carley Jr.	17:28*, Dolly Harrison	~1200
30 May 1981	14:43*, Jere Boutz	17:30*, Judy Stokley	~1200
5 June 1982	14:33*, Mike Zerressen	17:04*, Judy Stokely
4 June 1983	14:34*, Mike Zerressen	17:04*, Barbara Balzer	1086
2 June 1984	14:28*, J.D. Evilsizer	17:41*, Barbara Balzer	1039
1 June 1985	14:17*, Mark Patterson	16:39*, Helen Rogers	1475
7 June 1986	14:45*, Mike Plumb	Michele Linihan
6 June 1987	14:26*, James Frazier	18:03*, Jodie Steigerwald	1100+
5 June 1993	15:01, Matt Dobson
7 June 1997	15:14, Everett Whiteside	17:14, Sarah Kramer
6 June 1998	15:10, Everett Whiteside	18:18, Kelly Wild
5 June 1999	14:56, Rudolf Jun	17:59, Kelly Wild
3 June 2000	15:51, Rudolph Jun	17:29, Anna Pichrtova	524
2 June 2001	15:44, Steve Garst	18:06, Kelly Wild	530
1 June 2002	15:34, Everett Whiteside	20:08, Sarah Nandes	557
7 June 2003	16:07, James Frazier	18:27, Sarah Kramer	472
5 June 2004	16:22, Travis Deutman	18:23, Kelly Wild	382
5 June 2005	16:11, Brennan Galloway	18:34, Kelly Wild	450
4 June 2006	16:38, James Uthmeier	18:29, Kelly Wild	516
3 June 2007	15:41, Everett Whiteside	19:02, Kelly Wild	667
8 June 2008	16:06, Kyle Vanzile	19:07, Anna Hallex	685
6 June 2009	16:27, Adam Saloom	19:52, Kate Accardo	778
5 June 2010	15:55, Adam Saloom	18:57, Megan Jenkins	600
4 June 2011	15:57, Adam Saloom	19:46, Lisa Lewis	658
2 June 2012	15:21, Adam Saloom	19:20, Debby Vannoy	711
1 June 2013	15:45, Adam Saloom	18:50, Cynthia Blendermann	621
7 June 2014	16:29, Frito Bandito	18:52, Cheryl Held	530
6 June 2015	16:37, Dewayne Riley	19:05, Logan Bishop	495
4 June 2016	16:46, Dewayne Riley	19:47, Lillian Holtery	402
3 June 2017	16:47, Dewayne Riley	21:07, Brigid Gutierrez	290
2 June 2018	16:38, Dewayne Riley	19:02, Presley Miles	334
1 June 2019	16:00, Matt Blunden	19:37, Sophie Kellogg	333
* Early races in the series were three miles rather than five kilometers.

Links

• Complete results of Fort Walton Beach's 2019 Billy Bowlegs 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQQ1AOlsTJV7h07WRFSizV3B0R-33CDtNAqk1MzR-o5Lls7DIF7qroyfhvIjS4WjY1XZWDiB92bNao9/pubhtml
  
  
• 2017 story, “Dewayne Riley rolls to his third straight Billy Bowlegs 5K title”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/06/fwb-bowlegs-2017.html
  
  
• 2015 story, “Riley and Bishop win the race inspired by the Dread Pirate Bowles”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/06/fwb-bowlegs-2015.html
  
  
• USATF Course Certification Map FL13020EBM for the 2015 Billy Bowlegs 5K
  http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL13020EBM
  
  
• The race named after the real Billy Bowlegs
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/01/bowlegs-2019.html
  
  
• Find other 40-year-old races in the Tallahassee region on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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