SULLIVAN'S ISLAND -- Despite days of forecasted rain, wind and chilly temperatures on Saturday and the accuracy of those forecasts, 340 brave souls still ran in the 27th annual Charlie Post Classic road races -- which at several points featured ankle-deep, flooded streets that many compared to a steeplechase.

The morning's heavy rains combined with extreme high tides to flood a section of Osceola Avenue, near Stella Maris Catholic Church, for runners in both the 15K and 5K. The 187 in the 15K faced three more flooded sections of street on the other end of the island. The conditions left runners with slower finish times, drenched clothing and numb feet.

Yet many, such as the male winner of the 15K, were undaunted by the conditions.

"I thought it was a lot of fun," said 20-year-old Christian Bailey, who runs track and cross country for the College of Charleston. "I came out today because I wanted something to break up the training. We don't race between November and March, so it was nice break."

The conditions weren't the only challenge for Bailey, who was in the closest race Saturday. He and Chris Lamperski, 27, of Charlotte, ran side-by-side until the final 400 meters, when Bailey kicked into an extra gear to win by three seconds with a time of 50 minutes, 22 seconds.

Like many runners Saturday, female 15K winner Heather Knight pondered not racing.

"I thought about it, but I knew I'd be upset if I didn't come," said the 27-year-old Knight, a bioengineer at MUSC who is training for the Boston Marathon. "This is probably the worst race I've run as far as rain. It wasn't the coldest. The puddles were really bad ... The water was freezing and my toes were numb. But honestly, it's what I expected."

In the 5K, Brian Johnson -- Bailey's coach at College of Charleston -- breezed to victory, finishing nearly a minute ahead of the second-place finisher with a finish of 16:19.

"I was happy with my effort. I was running the 5K to see where I am right now after taking some time off and just getting back to consistent training the last three to four weeks," says Johnson, 34, of Mount Pleasant. " I did not get a real good gauge of what kind of time I can run because the weather made it slower today, but overall I am happy with how things went for me."

Johnson seemed to take more joy out of seeing Bailey do well, adding that "it was his first 15K and he looked pretty comfortable."

That mentoring attitude extended to the female 5K winner Anne Clinton, a physical education teacher at Cathedral Academy who urged her students to participate in the race. Two of the four students who committed -- Jonathan Henry and Thomas Nasce -- did just that. Clinton, 27, of Charleston, finished in 19:13, or about a minute slower than a typical 5K finish.

Despite the conditions, local runner Ruth-Marie Milliman set a pending state age group record for females ages 50-54 in the 15K by about five minutes with a finish time of 1:04:32.

Finisher numbers for Saturday were down dramatically from last year. Saturday's 15K had 202 fewer runners and the 5K had 170 fewer.

15K

OVERALL: Male -- Christian Bailey 50:22, Chris Lamperski 50:25, Karl Walsh 50:55. Female -- Heather Knight 1:00:42, Alice Rogers 1:01:28, Anne-Wyman Cipolla 1:01:34. MASTERS: Male -- Chris Hicks 54:33. Female -- Catherine Hollister 1:05:57. GRANDMASTERS: Male -- Tom Mather 54:20. Female -- Ruth-Marie Milliman 1:04:32. AGE GROUPS (top male and female only): 17-under -- Tim Tyler 1:02:39. Sydney Hazel 1:09:27. 18-24 -- Tim Jeffreys 52:44. Aline Gouillon 1:06:43. 25-29 -- Ryan Thompson 54:02. Blair Turnage 1:08:13. 30-34 -- Jeremy Becraft 53:07. Frances Woodard 1:18:20 35-39 -- Dirk Dewitt 56:50. Siobhan Maize 1:06:36. 40-44 -- Jim Daniel 59:09. Laura Boselowitz 1:10:01. 45-49 -- Huey Inman 58:25. Kelly Hazel 1:10:17. 50-54 -- Marc Embler 57:34. Tami Dennis 1:17:36. 55-59 -- Charles Kellner 1:04:03. Therese Killeen 1:25:45. 60-64 -- Chuck Greer 1:23:02. Anne Boone 1:20:56. 65-69 -- Tom Dority 1:25:38. Joan Mulvihill 1:32:27. 70-up -- Clyde Mizzell 1:32:55. Jane Gregorie 1:54:10.

5K

OVERALL: Male -- Brian Johnson 16:19, Bradley McClelland 17:15, Austin Waldrop 17:16. Female -- Anne Clinton 19:13, Lauren Faust 22:55, Lisa Tilton 24:08. MASTERS: Male -- Jerome Brinkley 18:32. Female -- Sheldon Fowler 20:37. GRANDMASTERS: Male -- Lennie Moore 19:51. Female --Cynthia Brown 27:48. AGE GROUPS (top male and female only): 13-under -- Noah Spencer 20:36. Maddie Schutte 34:05. 14-17 -- Layne Mather 17:39. No female. 18-24 -- Wesley Mather 18:15. Stephanie Post 27:24. 25-29 -- Adam Jones 18:09. Lauren Andersen 27:20. 30-34 -- Peter Solomon 24:00. Gena Henry 28:21. 35-39 -- John Webb 18:17. Wendi Norris 25:01. 40-44 -- Larry Trace 21:07. Merribeth Strehmel 27:19. 45-49 -- Mark Bedenbaugh 18:35. Lisa Deaton 25:42. 50-54 -- Andy Tedesco 20:02. Patricia Condon 30:35. 55-59 -- Bayne Selby 25:58. Gloria Legare 34:48. 60-64 -- Patrick Welsh 26:23 Rebecca Sigmon 32:05. 65-69 -- Marshall Wakat 25:40. No female. 70-up -- Gerry Kavanaugh 28:43. Donna Lea Brown 47:46.

Article by David Quick of The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.