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In close to perfect runing weather, it was a star-spangled day for the 26th annual Ridge Run in the Beverly-Morgan Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The Memorial Day event attracted large turnouts for both the 5K and 10K, which is on the CARA Circuit. There also was a two-mile health walk, a youth mile and a tot run.

First among the 1,135 finishers in the 10K was Chris Birchall, 24, of Chicago (via England), who toured the rolling course in 31:24.

"It was pretty tough," said Birchall, an assistant track coach at DePaul University. "I was warming up and checked out the hill, but when we ran the race, it wasn't the right one. The 'real' hill was a surprise!"

Just like at the Ravenswood 5K on April 27, Lisa Menninger and Megan Levin ran one-two in the women's division. Menninger, 38, of LaGrange, finished first in 38:14, while Levin, 33, of Chicago, was runner-up in 38:33.

"I was shooting for even 6 minutes [pace], and I went out too fast with the first mile about 5:40," Menninger said. But she was still happy to win the event, her sixth individual championship of the season.

Second male overall, Cameron Stuber, 27, of Chicago, set a PR with his 31:48 finish, and was very impressed with the spectators along the course.

"It was a really knowledgable crowd out there!," he said. "Spectators were giving me advise like 'pump your arms' instead of the usual 'looking good.' And toward the end, people were calling out to me, 'You're reeling him in!"

Stuber came close, but still finished 24 seconds behind Birchall.

The 5K, which started at 8 a.m., an hour before the 10K, produced a strong performance from Scott Anderson, 29, of Chicago, who won in 15:03. He was first of 984 runners across the finish line.

"I didn't get much sleep last night because I thought Jack (Kafel) was going to be here and run this race," Anderson said. Then he noted it was nice to run a race that wasn't on the lakefront. "It's nice to be running in a neighborhood like this."

Luckily for Anderson, Kafel was not there on Monday. He had run a 14:44 (second place) on Saturday in the Golden Apple 5K Run for Education in Lincoln Park.

Second in the Ridge Run 5K was Jeff Boehl, 24 of Greenville, IL, who ran a 15:24.

"It was a little fast there," said Boehl, who went to high school with third-place finisher Jeremy Borling, 23, of Chicago. They ran together for a portion of the race. Borling finished up right behind him in 15:32

Boele's wife, Amy, won the women's race in 19:16, making it two titles in two years.

"It was gorgeous weather," said Amy Boehle, "The last time I ran a hard race was at this one last year (she won in 18:42 in 2002).

Lauren Haberkorn, 13, of Oak Lawn finished second in 19:30.

"The second mile was hard but then I said,'Let's go' at the third mile.

Lauren was wearing a T-shirt that many folks had on, In Memory of Anna Cieslewicz, who was killed by a dog in the Dan Ryan Forest Preserve.

The Ridge Run, put on by the Beverly Area Planning Association, a not-for-profit community-based alliance of more than a dozen neighborhood groups working to preserve and promote the area's quality of life.

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