It was a morning of firsts in Evergreen Park.
On March 22, the village’s recreation department hosted its inaugural Leprechaun Leap 5K Run and Walk at Klein Park.
Mount Greenwood’s Carly Condon, 35, earned her first win in a race that involved both males and females. Her brother, Hugh, 34, finished third, but it was the first time he finished first among males in a race.
Carly Condon won the race in 20 minutes, 3 seconds with 14-year-old Holly Mueller of Chicago finishing second at 20:48.
Hugh Condon, of Evergreen Park, finished third overall and first among the males with a 20:59 showing.
Carly’s finish was unique in that it is rare to see a woman dominate a mixed-gender race as she did. Organizers of the race were impressed.
“It was awesome and very exciting to see,” said Kelly Kelly, the program director of the village’s recreation department. “We were very excited to see her come through first.”
“She came flying in,” Josie Donovan, the village’s recreation director, said of Condon. “That was very impressive. She was very well-paced from the beginning and she was no joke.”
Condon’s career was no joke as she was a strong runner for Mother McAuley in high school and Marquette in college.
She and her brother took time away from running, but got back into it two years ago.
“I missed competing and I like racing,” she said. “I love training and running on my own, but running against someone and competing is just different and I’m super competitive.”
Carly is a teacher and Hugh is an accountant.
Hugh was excited to see his sister beat the rest of the field.
“It’s huge,” he said of the win. “She is always pushing me and she’s like my running coach. It’s nice to have someone like her to run with.”
It goes both ways.
“He gets me out of the door a lot of times,” Carly said. “He’ll suggest doing a Fast Friday and in the last couple of years we started doing a lot of events together.”
Carly enjoys getting back into the swing of running.
“I love it because I can clear my mind and it’s a time where I can be myself,” she said.
Hugh played soccer at Brother Rice, but in recent years has embraced the challenges running can provide.
“I like the mental aspect of it,” he said. “When I first started running, I didn’t think I cold run five miles or six miles or 10 miles.
“But then you keep going and you keep going and you break through those mental barriers.”
Hugh is training for the Chicago Triathlon in August. Carly will stay with the 5K and 8K races but said she is willing to try a half marathon.
A noteworthy appearance in the top 10 was from 9-year-old Logan Brown, who placed seventh out of 232 finishers with a 22:11.
“We had a ton of kids enter,” Kelly said. “A lot of kids from Most Holy Redeemer and the public schools used this as a continuation of their running clubs.
“We had quite a few finish early on.”’