All-University Homecoming got off to a running start Sunday with the fourth-annual 5K race.

More than 800 students, alumni and community members registered to participate in the race that wound through campus, starting and ending at the K-State Alumni Center.

"I always think of the Homecoming race as the first event of Homecoming, and it's a great way to kick off the week," Andrea Bryant Glandin, race coordinator and Homecoming chair, said. "We get a high number of participants who volunteer, so there are always a lot of people involved."

Gladin said at least three volunteers from each greek pairing hand out water and provide splits for the runners. The race was an all-university philanthropy that benefits the Boys and Girls Clubs of Manhattan.

The 3.1-mile course ran from the Alumni Center north on Denison Avenue to a gravel road just south of Kimball Avenue. Runners went east, then turned south on Serum Plant Road, eventually taking Mid-Campus Drive and Vattier Street back to the Alumni Center.

Some runners said the cold weather and hilly course were a challenge.

"The hills weren't much fun," Bradley Matlack, senior in mechanical engineering, said, "and it was cold. My hands were pretty cold the whole race, but I was able to keep my temperature up by running."

Matlack said he came in 25th with a time of 21:10.

Christian Smith, senior in accounting and former distance runner for K-State's cross country and track teams, finished first in 16:06. Cate Holston won the women's division with a time of 19:15. Both won $100.

Gladin, who has served as chair for the past three years, said the race keeps growing.

"It was a success," she said. "Everything went really smoothly."