Nearly 1,600 Participate in Oak Apple Run in Royal Oak

Nearly 1,600 runners and walkers and hundreds more supporters and volunteers swarmed on Royal Oak Saturday morning for the 35th annual Oak Apple run on what many runners called a “perfect day.”

Ryan Piippo, a track coach and history teacher who lives in Franklin, crossed the finish line at 34 minutes and 53 seconds to win the 10K race, about 4 minutes off the race record.

“It was right where I thought I should be,” Piippo said. ”It was a beautiful morning to be out for a run.”

Piippo hung around the finish line to greet members of the ROHS track team as they came in behind him.

Danielle Savard of Rochester Hills had the best time for the women runners. It was Savard’s first time running the 10K at the Oak Apple. “It’s a great course,” she said. “It was nice going through the neighborhoods, the people were cheering us … it’s a beautiful day.”

The addition of race/walking categories this year caused a little confusion, said race administrator Elaine Tank, who has helped run the event for founding sponsor of Royal Oak since it began in 1982. “But the race walkers were thrilled,” she said.

Having two awards ceremonies this year also helped ensure early runners didn’t have to wait around very long for their prizes and certificates, she said.

Tank said there were a total of 1,592 participants this year:

• 10K - 829
• 10K Race/Walk - 13
• 2 Mile - 562
• 2 Mile Race Walk - 11
• Kids 1/4 Mile - 177

“I think it went great,” Tank said. “We’re real pleased.”

Click here for complete race results.