<em>Photo above: There is nothing better than running with friends says 9 year old Caroline Schools.</em>

Beaufort Academy’s annual 5K &amp; 10K Chilly Bean Race and Chili Cookoff was held last weekend at Coosaw Point and attracted more than 500 runners, a much bigger field than ever before. The men’s winner of the 5K was Josiah Tobin with a time of 18:20 and the ladies field was won by Sarah Foley with a time of 19:55.

In the 10K race, George Moreno won in the men’s division with a time of 37:50 and Erin Padgett took home the gold for the ladies. Additionally the official “old bean” award goes to Alan Offstein and Maureen Hijar both admitting to 69 years old and the youngest competitor was Ava Richards who is a whopping five!

Congratulations to all the runners and chili makers for coming together to have a great event and make some money for Operation Backpack, a 501 (c) 3 right here in Beaufort. And to grand champion chili maker is Larry Wilson with “Larry’s Rockin’ Green Chili”! Co-Chairs, Vivi Verity Nellen and Shannon Roberts really did a great job and get the gold star award for all their time and energy that went into making this year’s Chilly Bean Race Race and Chili Cookoff the best yet!

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