Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic Run and Walk Director Robert “Scat” Scatterday was sitting in a golf cart Saturday morning, discussing the race’s finish when Donna Akers of Narrows, Va., approached him.

“It’s my first time here,” she said.

“It’s my 558th race; I’m celebrating my 59th birthday, and I came up here to do it.”

She said it all with a smile on her face, a clear sign she enjoyed every minute of what proved to be a 2-hour, 2-minute, 50-second run up and down the sunsplashed course’s infamous hills in what proved to be near-perfect running weather.

“That’s the kind of thing I’ve been hearing,” Scatterday said.

Yes, it was the feeling that, on this day, seemingly spanned worldwide — all the way to Kenya, as Wogayehu Tefera emerged as the overall winner of the 32nd annual running of the event in a blistering time of 1:03:12 — a 5:06 pace. It was a remarkable feat considering it was the first time he’d run in the event, and he had no idea where the course was taking him.

He spoke no English so he let his legs do the talking.

For much of the race, it was Tefera, second-place George Towett, Valentine Orare and Ethiopian Alene Reta running together.

“All the way to the last 800 meters,” Reta said.

It was there that Tefera pulled away, breezing to the finish 50 meters ahead of Towett (1:03:16).

“The course was very hard, there are a lot of up and down hills, but that’s fine,” Tefera said through Reta, last year’s Ogden 20K winner. “It feels good.”

This was nothing new for these guys, who said they run a lot of races together.

In fact, at the Park Forest Scenic 10 Mile in Chicago last September, won by Reta, three of that race’s top-five finishers — Reta, Reuben Chebii and Richard Kimeli — finished inside the top eight during Saturday’s Ogden 20K Classic.

Tefera, who prefers to run marathons, won the Apple Blossom 10K race in Virginia earlier this month. Reta won the Medved Lilac 10K race-10K Run in Rochester, N.Y., just last weekend.

The first American finisher was Ellwood City, Pa., native and Notre Dame runner Jake Walker at 1:06:40, one spot ahead of local favorite Justin Simpson.

Walker, who stayed with the elites for the first four or five miles, was not only running for the first time in Wheeling, but he said 20K isn’t really his distance. He prefers 10Ks and 5Ks.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” he said.

The first female finisher to cross the tape was Caroline Rotich, who runs out of Sante Fe, N.M. She finished in a time of 1:13:50. The first American female finisher was Maria Dalzot of Morgantown (1:21:56).

Five-hundred eighty-six runners completed the 20K race.

John Brockenbrough of Murrysville, Pa., won the male Masters Division in 1:15:24, while the female Masters Division champion was Jocelyne Majoy of Vincent, Ohio, in 1:31:47.

The male Grand Masters champion was Tery McCluskey of Vienna, Ohio, in 1:18:23. The female Grand Masters champion was Shelley Ralston of Uniontown, Pa., in 1:35:17. Ralston shaved more than a minute off her time from a year ago, when she similarly finished first in this division.

Susan Randall of Beavercreek, Ohio, repeated as the women’s 20K walk winner in a time of 1:53:41 — exactly four minutes faster than last year. Don Slusser of Monroeville, Pa., repeated as the men’s 20K walk winner in a time of 2:04:21.

Kenya’s Aliyot Abebe won the male 5K at 15:37, one spot ahead of Anthony Pavicic, Friday’s Ogden Mile winner. Wheeling Park High School’s Logan Wojcik was third at 16:41.

Megan Truelove, 17, of Scott Depot, won the female 5K run in a time of 19:29, while Wheeling Central cross-country coach Heather Wayt was second at 20:25. Wayt was last year’s winner in this event.

Wheeling’s Tony Purpura won the male 5K walk with a time of 25:26, while Donna Graham of Lowell, Ohio repeated as the female 5K walk champ in 31:49.

In the first-year 20K relay event, Diane Bosich and Wayne McCracken, both of Bellaire, emerged as winners in a time of 1:30:34.