By SIERRA CORLEY

For the Daily News

Nearly 160 runners and an accompanying crowd of another 100 or so gathered last Saturday afternoon in Smithton, a community near Belhaven, to celebrate the fifth-annual Darleen’s Flamingo 5K Run.

A day that had begun under clear skies and seasonal temperatures had become cloudy and a little rainy with a stiff northeast wind blowing by the time of the 5 p.m. start. Past races had been run in the morning, but the start was moved back this year so that Halloween revelers from the night before would be able to sleep in some.
The event is a fundraiser for the Shepard Cancer Foundation in Washington. In 2013 when the event had 205 runners, $18,000 was generated.
The Flamingo Run was begun in 2010 by Nikki Klatt, Priscilla Smith and Kelly Smith to honor Darleen Smith, who had died of breast cancer in April 2010. Darleen was Klatt’s mother, and the mother-in-law of Priscilla Smith and Kelly Smith. It was named the Flamingo 5k because Darleen liked flamingos.
Ann Jones, Darleen’s sister, said, “She decided that when you lived here, you had to make your own party.”
And despite the weather, it certainly was a party. An army of volunteers in golf carts and all-terrain vehicles ferried runners and spectators from the parking area to the sign-in tent, then to the starting and finishing line area located about 600 yards away.
The course was decorated with pink flamingos at every corner and at various other locations. There also was a huge pink flamingo painted on the road at the start/finish line.
The runners ran directly into the wind for most of the first mile and about half of the third mile before making a final right-hand turn with the wind pushing hard at their backs for the last quarter-mile.
After the race, a hearty buffet was available, manned by yet more volunteers working in full force to serve grits, sausage links, cheese biscuits, bacon, pancakes, fruit, water, hot chocolate, coffee and more. No one left with an empty stomach.
Chocowinity’s Kay Evans, one of the area’s top female runners, won the women’s overall title in 22 minutes, 17 seconds, also good enough for fourth overall. Melissa Davenport was second (23:51), and Cruz Eakes was third (24:45).
“I was struggling against the wind the whole time,” Evans said. “It was nice to make that last turn and not have to fight the wind anymore.”
The male overall winner was Joe Corley (20:36) of Washington, followed by Braeden Cooper (21:23) and Nathaniel Bowen (22:13), both runners on the Northside cross country team.
Age-group winners were Claire Barnes (female 1-15), Brady Hundrell (male 1-15), Eliza Bowen (female 16-19), Matthew Hundrell (male 16-19), Angela Berben (female 20-29), Jennifer Neal (female 30-39), Joseph Hundrell (male 30-39), Brandi Holland (female 40-49), Dempsey Ange (male 40-49), Donna Fary (female 50-59), Frank Snyder (male 50-59), Carlene Kincaid (female 60 and older) and 80-year-old Bruce Marsh (male 60 and older).