The Run Thru History is the Kazery’s world, and everybody else is just runnin’ in it.

Peter Kazery, a 27-year-old from Clinton, continued his family’s decade of domination in the Run Thru History by winning the 10-kilometer run in the Vicksburg National Military Park on Saturday with a time of 35 minutes, 1 second.

It’s the second year in a row, and third time in four years, that Kazery has won Vicksburg’s largest and oldest running event. His brother William also won it three times, from 2011-13, giving the family six Run Thru History championships in the past nine years.

“Somebody’s got to win it,” Peter Kazery said with a chuckle. “I always try to get the best out of the day, because you can always use what happens today at another race. I try to stay humble. I know one day there is somebody who is going to run just as good as me or better. I know where I’m at. I’m good in our area, but there are a lot of people better. It’s all about being respectful.”

Kazery won with the slowest time of his three victories, but was still more than a minute and a half better than runner-up and 2017 champion Ryan Crandall. Kazery quickly separated from the pack and was never challenged as the top runners spread out.

Crandall crossed the finish line with a time of 36:37, Oliver Child was third in 37:01, and Chris McNeece was fourth in 39:39.

“It’s always a tough race. I knew I was going to go and did the best I could do,” Kazery said. “The second part is just always so tough here. If somebody would have been close it definitely could have been an interesting race. I know I’ve run better on the course, but as far as weather it’s a phenomenal day to run.”

Laura Child finished fifth overall and won the women’s championship for the second year in a row with a time of 40:01. She made a good bit of history in the process.

Child’s fifth-place overall finish was the highest for a woman in the event’s 40-year history. Keri Frazier had the previous record with a sixth-place finish in 2016.

Child also bettered by 57 seconds the women’s course record she set last year. Although the Run Thru History celebrated its 40th anniversary on Saturday, the current course has only been used since 2016.

“I don’t always win. But it was a great run in beautiful conditions,” said Child, a native of England and the wife of third-place finisher Oliver Child. “From the outset I didn’t have a woman in front of me and I don’t really know what happened behind me. I just tried to stick in the top seven or eight people. I was aiming to be in the top five or six.”

In the 5-kilometer race walk, Larry Robinson returned to the Run Thru History after a two-year absence and picked up right where he left off. The 49-year-old from Forest clocked a time of 29:54 to win the overall walk championship for the fifth time.
Ron Roma was second in 32:12.

Robinson won the Run Thru History four years in a row from 2013-16, but was slowed by injuries and did not compete in 2017 or 2018.

“This right here was the toughest race I have ever done. Those hills are tough. It was just a tough course. I don’t ever see the hills until I come to Vicksburg on race day. We don’t have hills down there in Forest,” Robinson said. “I got the 35th (anniversary trophy). This is No. 40. I love getting those five-year increments for some reason.”

Angel Curry, last year’s overall walk champion, had to settle for a third-place finish and the women’s title this year. Curry, a 55-year-old from Rayville, La., posted a time of 32:14 to add the 2019 women’s championship to her 2013 and 2018 trophies.

In the children’s Cannonball Run 1-mile fun run, the winners were 9-year-old David Lee of Madison and 11-year-old Samantha Edwards of Vicksburg.