Hundreds of runners bundled up to bear the cold weather and fierce winds Saturday to run the 17th Annual Nittany Valley Half-Marathon.

Runners from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and Virginia participated in the event sponsored by the Nittany Valley Running Club.

The half-marathon started in front of The Bryce Jordan Center at 10 a.m.

Approximately an hour and 15 minutes after the race began, the winner of the 13.1 mile race came into view. Gregg Davis (senior-mechanical engineering) crossed the finish line exhausted.

"Hurts like hell," Davis muttered after falling to the curb.

"The last two miles, they make a man out of you," he said of the challenging course.

The first eight miles are comparatively flat compared to the remainder where the course finishes with a 220 feet rise with the last third of a mile being a 5 percent grade or what the race description refers to as a " soul-crushing climb".

The course goes west through campus and then north towards the University Park Airport making a loop and returning back in front of the Jordan Center.

The Nittany Valley Running Club has been sponsoring this race since 1984. Before, the club sponsored a full marathon.

"It started as a fun thing for people to do in December when there aren't any races," said Dave Eggler, club secretary.

The race has been growing ever since. This year there were a record 289 runners in the event.

The weather wasn't a problem for the runners this year even with the high temperature at 28 degrees for Saturday.

Eggler said that the runners were used to training all year round in intense and cold conditions.

The running club is made up of people from the State College area including Penn State faculty and students.

The club runs in races throughout the State College area and Pennsylvania.

Official race results are posted on the clubs' Web site (http://www.nvrun.com).