A nice, breezy morning marked the beginning of the 26th annual Over the River Run on Saturday morning.

For Brent Watson, it turned out, the run was a breeze as well.

The 32-year-old Brandon resident zipped past 376 other runners to win the 5-mile run across the Old Mississippi River Bridge with a time of 29 minutes, 35 seconds.

Watson easily won the race in his third try. He separated from the pack about a mile in and beat runner-up Tom Lilleyman of Vicksburg by 47 seconds.

“I’m very pleased with my time. Really I shoot to break 30,” said Watson, who didn’t register for the race until Saturday morning.

For the second consecutive year a teenager won the women’s championship. Marissa Perez, a 16-year-old from Monroe, La., pulled away late in the race to bring home the trophy with a personal best time of 34:51.

“I am so happy I beat my last time.”

Perez said she has competed in more than 20 races.

“Usually they are 5Ks but we travel over here to do the River Run every year,” she said.

In the 5-mile race walk, Larry Robinson Jr. of Forest won the overall title for the fourth time and Angel Curry of Start, La., won her first women’s crown.

Robinson crossed the finish line in 48 minutes and 55 seconds. Although Robinson has dominated Mississippi’s race walk circuit in recent years, he said the only time he actually hits the pavement is on race day. The rest of the time, he’s working on the treadmill and watching himself in the mirror to perfect his form.

“I train in the gym only. I only race on the concrete when I get out here to do a race,” he said. “You can’t go all over when you’re on the treadmill.”

Curry, meanwhile, had a triumphant return to race walking. She’s competed in more than 100 races since 1992, but took a break from the sport four years ago. She resumed competition this year.

She said she felt pretty good about her time.

“It was three minutes slower than it was in 2010, but considering I’m four years older, that’s not too bad,” the 50-year-old Curry said.

Isaac Perez, 10, won the children’s 1-mile run with a time of 7:10. Schar’davia Anderson, 12, was second overall but first in the girls’ division with a time of 7:20.

A total of 749 people competed in the 5-mile run and race walk, and 1-mile fun run — 377 in the run, 298 in the walk, and 74 in the 1-miler. Nearly 800 people registered, but the final tally relies on those who actually crossed the finish line and were scored.

Warm temperatures and high humidity greatly affected runners and walkers. Race volunteers ran out of cups at the two water stations set up on the course, Mississippi Track Club president Jack Ward said.

“I had a lot of people and it’s kind of our fault we ran out of cups. We tried to do everything for the race,” Ward said.