Most Arts Festival visitors slowly amble through the exhibits, taking their time to appreciate the displays scattered around the campus and State College. But that sedate pace was far too slow for the 700 participants in another Arts Festival tradition - the 14th annual Nittany Valley-Arts Festival 10K Road Race held yesterday morning.

The overall winner of the race was John Flaherty of Pittsburgh, who finished with a time of 31 minutes, 45 seconds. Wendy Nelson, a member of the Penn State track team, was the first woman across the line with a time of 37:50.

Although the race meant more to the runners than a pleasant morning jog, there wasn't a win-at-all-costs attitude among the top finishers.

"I was just running the race," Nelson said. "I've only been training for 3 1/2 weeks because I took some time off after the season, so I was just looking at it as a training run."

"I thought I had a chance, but I never go to a race expecting to win," Flaherty said. "I knew I was in good shape, and I knew there were a lot of good guys here."

Mike Castillo, the second-place finisher and also a member of the track team, entered the race at the last minute.

"I came up for the weekend to see some friends on the team, and we just decided to run," Castillo said. "So I was just happy with that. We all came up just to have a good time"

That was a good enough reason for most of the runners, those who did not receive awards or prizes. For the hundreds who ran the race and are not competitive runners the incentive was to get out and test themselves against the clock and against others in their age class.

But despite all the good intentions there was still a race to be won, and the women's contest nearly came down to the proverbial wire, as Nelson and Sherry Mason battled over the last 300 meters of the course on their way to the tape.

"I took the lead about 2 1/2 miles into the race, and I kept it until the bottom of the hill, and then she slipped past me," Mason, who finished in 38:01, said. "Some guy told me she was 20 yards behind me, but I was giving it all I had to keep that position, and she just had more left. With the hills, I just didn't have the strength to keep up that pace.

"I was a bit surprised, because I went out faster than I thought I should have, and after the first mile I was getting sick," Nelson said. "And then women just kept coming back, and I was in second thinking 'well, second is good enough.' But she kept coming back, and I caught her on the last hill."

There were no such dramatics in the men's race. Flaherty led at the halfway point and second-place finisher and Penn State track team member Mike Castillo was not able to make a charge over the last part of the course. Flaherty and Castillo know each other, so they both had a good idea what the other was up to as the race wore down.

"When I came through at the halfway (point) I thought I had it," Flaherty said. "I was running with two guys on College Avenue and I pulled away there and that's when I thought I could take it."

"Around the four mile mark I was trying to catch up with him," Castillo said, "and then I started to hurt too, and I started thinking 'when I catch him, what am I going to do then?' I was happy with second, that's pretty much what I ran for. I know he's a good runner, and I knew he could have gone a little more if he had to."

The course consisted of a loop beginning and ending at Rec Hall that the runners circled twice. The course took the runners past Curtin Road, down University Drive, and along College Avenue before turning up Burrowes Road for the long trek back to Rec Hall.

"(The hill is) a lot harder the second time than the first," Flaherty said. "You can see the finish line so far away, and I was looking at my watch, trying to run really fast, but it's a deceivingly long stretch."