Photo by Kim North Catherine Aaron, a resident of Montgomery, Ala., won the 47th annual Ogden Newspapers 5K Classic on Saturday in a time of 20-minutes, 34-seconds. Her parents are graduates of Wheeling Central.

WHEELING — The 47th annual Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic is becoming a family tradition for some former residents.

Catherine Aaron’s parents graduated from Wheeling Central High School. Her father was in the service, so the family moved to Montgomery, Alabama, when she was a child. She graduated from Montgomery Catholic High School and runs cross country at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

The 21-year-old accomplished something Saturday that she has always wanted to do.

“I’ve never won a road race before. I’ve always wanted to run through the tape, and I was finally able to do that today,” she said after posting a time of 20 minutes, 34 seconds as the first female across the finish line of the 5K Run..

“My parents grew up in Wheeling, so we always visit in the summer,” she said. “My sister and my cousin do half marathons, so they said they were going to do this over Memorial Day weekend. It’s kind of a tradition now.”

Aaron competed in the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic last year, taking first place in her age group (18-20).

“It was cold this morning, but it was really nice when you were out there running. It was really good for racing,” she said of the conditions. “The course wasn’t too bad. There were a couple of turns that you had to lean into that were kind of fun.”

As for her time, “I wanted to get a PR (personal record). I’m not sure I did, but I’m happy with what I ran. I didn’t know what the competition was going to be like, so I just ran as fast as I could.”

That was good enough to outdistance the field.