Dale Griffin might have lost a step in the six years since he last ran in the Run Thru History, but that’s OK. The time away just made his return Saturday morning all the more triumphant.

The 34-year-old Pearl resident zipped across the finish line in 36 minutes and 12 seconds, more than a minute ahead of runner-up Brent Watson, to win the 36th annual Run Thru History. Griffin won the race for the first time, in his third attempt. He finished fourth in 2008 and third in 2009 — with a faster time than he won with on Saturday — but hadn’t been back since.

“It feels good. It’s a big-time race,” Griffin said. “It’s always good to win, but also just to compete. They’re all so good here. The times people run are amazing.”

Griffin was the class of a field of 313 runners in the 10-kilometer race through the Vicksburg National Military Park. He led Watson by about 20 yards as they paced each other near the halfway point, then steadily pulled away over the last five kilometers.

“He decided he didn’t want to run fast today,” Griffin said in jest as Watson stood nearby.

Watson enjoyed the joke, then offered up a more scientific explanation.

“At the end of Mile 3 he started to pull off,” said Watson, a 32-year-old Brandon resident. “My pace dropped to 6s in the back half and he was probably in the 5:40 range. I just couldn’t match that pace.”

In the women’s division, Vicksburg native Keri Frazier had yet another happy homecoming.

The 32-year-old, who now lives in Birmingham, won the Run Thru History women’s championship for the ninth time in 15 years with a time of 40:13. Frazier first won the race while she was a student at Vicksburg High, and has returned regularly to defend her title. She’s done it so often that she’s lost count of how many times she’s won.

“I want to say six or maybe seven. I’m not sure,” she said. “It’s always a good reason to come home. It’s a special place in my heart because I’m from here. I love the hills. They’re my favorite.”

Coming in second in the women’s division — again — was Vicksburg resident Kristi Hall. The 36-year-old has won Vicksburg’s other road races, the Over the River Run and Chill in the Hills, a combined 11 times but has never won the Run Thru History.

Saturday was Hall’s seventh runner-up finish in the RTH since 2005. Six of those times, she’s finished behind Frazier.

“I’m very familiar with what she looks like from behind,” joked Hall, who finished in 41:53.

The results of the 5-kilometer race walk mirrored the 10K run, with a dominant force claiming the overall championship and a returning legend winning the women’s title.

Flora resident Larry Robinson won the Run Thru History for the third consecutive year by holding off Barbara Duplichain in a sprint to the finish. Robinson crossed the line in 29:56, and Duplichain in 30:17. Lee Fore was a distant third, with a time of 33:15.

Duplichain won 11 consecutive Run Thru History race walk titles from 1991-2001 and competed in the U.S. Senior Olympics in 2014. She gave up race walking for a time and Saturday marked her first Run Thru History since 2003.

Duplichain provided rare competition for Robinson, who won the RTH by a minute in 2013 and by nearly three minutes last year.

“She made me go my personal best. She holds that form perfectly,” Robinson said. “That last quarter-mile, I made the turn and saw a white shirt. I wasn’t used to that. I had to pick it up. If I didn’t she would have beaten me.”

David Vizzi, a 15-year-old from Lafayette, La., won the children’s 1-mile fun run with a time of 6:30. Olivia Perez, a 12-year-old from Monroe, La., was the girls’ winner in 7:44.

Race director Casey Custer said nearly 800 people registered for the Run Thru History, and 677 completed it — 313 in the 10K, 279 in the race walk, and 85 in the 1-miler.

Some runners are not scored as they cross the finish line or do not show up on race day, accounting for the difference in totals.