Correspondent photos / Sean Barron Crowds of people taking part in the 2-mile walk / run portion of Sunday’s annual Youngstown Peace Race fill Central Squar

YOUNGSTOWN — Lincoln Wytko fancies himself as a future engineer who will begin to put his building acumen and skills to work, though in the meantime, he’s happy to have built an impressive finish.

“I want to be an engineer,” Lincoln, 10, of Columbia, Md., said. “I love building with Lego and creating stuff.”

Before he pounds the first nail or measures the first piece of wood, however, Lincoln has built what likely will be a lasting memory: his finish in Sunday’s 47th annual Youngstown Peace Race, which featured a 10K run, 2-mile run / walk and a 400-meter Kids Fun Run.

Lincoln took seventh place overall in the 2-mile run /walk by posting a time of 15:33:63.

“I’m really fast and I want to do races. I run 2 miles every day,” he added.

Also participating was Lincoln’s younger brother, Simon, 8, who came in 16th overall with a time of 17:34:54. The boys’ parents also took part, said their grandfather, Paul Wytko of North Jackson.

Their mother, Terri, posted a first-place finish in the 10K in the female age 40 to 44 category. Her time was 46:01.

The 2-mile route took runners through part of downtown Youngstown and along Mahoning Avenue. Those in the 10K started at Kirk Road and South Schenley Avenue on the West Side and proceeded through Mill Creek Park before finishing in Central Square.

Taking home a first-place finish in the 2-mile run/walk was Dorian Plecha, 17, of Austintown, who began running in eighth grade.

“I run cross-country,” said Dorian, who attends the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center.

Plecha added that his height and weight don’t provide the strength to play football, but they are conducive for running.

“That’s one thing I can do well,” he said.

Also conducive for the pursuit is disciplined training, something to which Rosemary Fuller and longtime friend Kate Ramunno-Finney, both of Youngstown, committed themselves earlier this year.

“I trained in Mill Creek Park and in the neighborhood to get my time under 30 minutes,” recalled Fuller, 68, who retired as a speech pathologist with the Youngstown City Schools and enjoys the outdoors.

Finney and Fuller achieved their goal in the Peace Race, courtesy of having finished 29:59:66 and 29:21:75, respectively.

“We bring in international runners without any prejudice,” Mark Sorrentino, a longtime event organizer, said.

When the race debuted in 1975, the U.S. and world were embroiled in major conflicts that included the Cold War with Russia and the end of the Vietnam War, he noted. The Youngstown Peace Race, originally known as the International Peace Race, was an attempt to use running as a unifying force to bring together athletes worldwide “for a day of competition, friendship and understanding,” the race’s website states.

Jack Cessna, a local runner and activist, initiated the race.

The event began as a 25K run through Mill Creek Park. In 1978, the 10K was added, and in 1989, the 25K was eliminated, the website shows.

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