Between the 2-mile, 10k and ‘virtual’ runners, an estimated 500 people took part in the annual Park Fete Runs on Saturday morning, July 14.

Overseen by the ShadowChase Running Club, spokesperson Heidi Ryan said they had well over 200 runners in each of the two races, including 232 in the 10k.

Ryan said ShadowChase has four different ‘club’ races and those that participate in all four get special medals, with the Escalon Park Fete among that group of runs. That helped pump up participants, she said. Modesto Marathon, Modesto Memorial Classic, Park Fete and the Run for the Cheese in Riverbank are the four runs.

Virtual runners are those that couldn’t physically make it to the race, Ryan said, but pay the entry fee and do their own run, participating via proxy.

In the 10k, Escalon High alum and now Oakdale resident Victor Moreno, 36, clocked a time of 33:46, averaging a 5:26 time per mile.

“It was fun,” Moreno said, following the Saturday morning run. “This was my normal daily run for four years (of high school) when I lived here. I didn’t care how I finished; I just wanted to see how fast I could run.”

He claimed top honors overall in the 10k; top female finisher was Alisha Rice, 38, with a time of 46:00. She was 19th overall and averaged a 7:25 mile.

In the 10k Wheelchair division, A.J. Mitchell, 33, of Modesto finished in 37:46.

For the 2-mile run, with 220 participants, Cristian Gutierrez, 18, of Modesto was the first place overall finisher with a time of 10:14. First female finisher was Gisela Hernandez, 7, of Turlock. She was 14th overall and turned in a time of 15:24.