T

he weather in Vicksburg this weekend made for a perfect day to hold the inaugural Mad Scientist 5K run and walk at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.

Race organizers were originally hoping for 200 participants Col. Bryan Green said, but on Saturday, 275 runners made their way throughout parts of the ERDC campus and past the new headquarters that is currently under construction.

“After 9/11, we kind of shut the gates down so occasionally you can go places and nobody knows what ERDC is and it is right in your backyard,” Green said, adding  “The fact that I’ve got 275 folks from the community and from all the people that work for the federal government is cool.”

Top overall finisher in the race with a time of 18:52 was 34-year-old Josue Capir. He was followed by Kevin Glauber, 24, who finished in 18:56 and Andy Till, 47, who finished in 19:11. The top women’s finisher was Kristi Hall, 39. She finished 11th overall in 20:43. Brooke Southerland, 18, finished second among the women in 22:29, good for 18th overall. Hannah Christensen, 28, finished third in 23:08, which was 24th overall.

Also, earlier in the week, the Mississippi Valley Division held a change of command welcoming Commander Maj. Gen. Richard G. Kaiser during a ceremony Thursday.

Kaiser replaces Maj. Gen. Michael C. Wehr.

More positives happenings in Vicksburg this week:

• On Tuesday, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a $118,500 contract with Jackson-based Cook Farr Douglas Lemons Architects & Engineers to prepare designs and specifications to replace the convention center escalator, upgrade its elevator and repair a retaining wall at the convention center. Convention center director Annette Kirklin said the board’s action “shows the mayor and aldermen care about the customer experience when they walk through the doors. And when they walk through the doors and they go down a staircase they really don’t want to go down, that’s really not a good experience when they come through the building.”

• On Saturday at the city pool, in one of the biggest meets of the season and one of its final tune-ups before the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools state meet, St. Aloysius finished third. St. Al will now begin the run-up to the MAIS Overall State Meet on Sept. 20 in Jackson. The Flashes finished second in 2015 and third last year, and are looking to finally break through for a state championship.