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NEWS BRIEFS
Record crowd turns out for memorial run
Teddy Johnson gathers runners for the start of the Adam Johnson Memorial 3-Mile Run for Success in downtown Huntington Saturday, March 26, 2011.
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HUNTINGTON -- Nearly 500 people registered for the annual Adam Johnson Memorial 3-Mile Run Saturday morning in Huntington.
The event helps fund the Adam Johnson Memorial Scholarship, set up by his father, Teddy Johnson, following his son's 2007 drug overdose death.
Johnson has said his son deserved a second chance at life, which is why is set up the scholarship fund for high school seniors who have battled adversity and want their own shot at being successful.
That's what made Chesapeake High School's 2010 valedictorian Nikki Nye an easy pick as a scholarship recipient. She endured the death of her parents and walking a mile to school early in the morning to use the computer.
Nye was with two other past scholarship winners Saturday morning to kick off the run. She said she is proud to have her name connected to the Johnson family.
"I know it hurts him that he lost his son, but he using that loss to help others," said Nye, who is a freshman at Marshall University. "It's the most meaningful scholarship I received."
Johnson, who conducts a thorough interview process with scholarship candidates, said he started the annual run selfishly, to be able to talk about Adam.
But he has come to realize that his son is getting a second chance by helping others. Johnson said getting to know the scholarship recipients and becoming like a mentor to them "put something back in my heart that was ripped out."
And he couldn't be happier that people don't just participate because they like to run races.
"I talked to so many people on Friday (during package pickup) who said whey they pick their races, this is one of them, because they support the cause," Johnson said.
The top finisher was Paul Webb, 29, of Portsmouth, with a time of 15:37. He was followed by Tyler Salmons, 17, at 15:54, and Robert Smith, 32, of Huntington, at 16:11.
The top three women were Skye Taylor, 19, of Huntington, at 19:05; Amanda Harris, 17, of South Point, at 20:52; and Maddy R. Rymer, 15, of Ashland, at 20:53.
Jennifer Ross, 40, of Lavalette, finished at 22:01 to win the female masters class, while Fred Jones, 55, of Hurricane, finished at 18:01 to win the male masters class.
There were 492 registered runners, with 393 participating and finishing the run.
