And they’re off!

Thomas Rivera, 20, was the overall winner when race leader Ervin Velasquez was redirected the wrong way by a course official at Pelona Vista Park. Results and times from the race were not immediately available.

“It’s OK,” said Velasquez, who finished second overall. “I’m actually here to have fun. It’s good to see everyone coming together after a couple of years. I think that’s the main purpose of the race. It’s a community.”

Rivera, a 2019 Paraclete High graduate, was almost directed the wrong way, running behind Velasquez.

“It was a little choppy,” Rivera said of the misdirection. “We asked the direction person and they didn’t know where to send us.”

Rivera was a little more used to the race and the course. He said he’s been running the cross country series since he was a kid.

“I’ve been running for over 10 years, so I’m used to it,” he said. “I’ve been to this park since 2010, so I know this park inside and out.

“I’m so happy they brought it back. I missed it for the past couple of years. I’m really happy they brought it back. I like the community of runners. It’s always such a good community.”

Rivera said conditions were better for running, with a temperature of 87 degrees near the start time of 6:45 p.m.

“Most of the time it’s 90 degrees, so it does feel a little bit cooler,” he said. “The hills, though, still a little bit difficult. Overall a great course, though.”

Rivera said he plans on running the remaining three races of the series, as part of his training for the Spacerock Trail Race half-marathon at Vasquez Rocks in October.

“I’m just training solo for a half-marathon in October down at Vasquez Rocks,” he said. “I did one in May in Yosemite. I train by myself for half-marathons. I’m a long distance runner.

“I’m excited for it, for sure.”

Velasquez said he ran in the series nine years ago.

“I stopped running for nine years,” he said. “Just recently come back and I got injured, because I hadn’t run in so long.”

Thursday’s race was his first day running after taking two months off due to a strained groin and a hip flexor, suffered running in a half-marathon.

“I’m just out here to have fun,” Velasquez said. “It was great. I missed it. It was a bittersweet feeling coming down the hills. I really didn’t miss the uphills though. It was great. Great course. Looking forward to coming back, because now I know the course.”

Velasquez ran in high school, but not competitively.

He said the conditions were better for running on Thursday than they have been in recent weeks.

“The weather was actually cooler,” he said. “I was expecting some drizzles and rain, but we didn’t get that. It was still great weather, despite the hot temperatures and heat wave we’ve been having here in the high desert.

“I just wish I got directed the right way. It would have been a nice (confidence boost) coming back from an injury. It’s great to be back.”

There were a total of 70 runners, with many younger runners competing in the main race that would have normally competed in the usual one-mile kids race for children 12 and under.

Talitha Schroeder, 10, was the first female finisher.

“It was hard though,” Schroeder said. “It was better than I expected it to go, because it’s really dusty. It felt good when the breeze would actually come in.”

Schroeder said she’s been running since January, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The last Summer Cross Country Series race, held on Aug. 8, 2019, featured 98 runners.

The race followed the same course that was used from 2011 to 2019.

The series is limited to four races this year, with no awards presented after the final race on Aug. 25.

Series director Alan Brown, who has been running the series for 25 years up to 2019, was in charge again on Thursday, but will be handing off his megaphone to High Desert Runners club member James Mitchell.

“We’ll be working together the next two races and he will be totally in charge the last race,” Brown, 81, said. “I’ve gotten to the age where I physically can’t do it.”