HAMPDEN – Warren Bishop was not your typical distance runner.

He didn’t have long, greyhound-like legs that that most runners have, but he always fought to the finish in every race he ran.

Saturday, a nice gathering of runners competed on the 2.84-mile Hampden Academy cross country course to commemorate the former Hampden track and field/cross country runner who was killed in a automobile accident in the summer of 1987, two years after he graduated from Hampden (1985).

One of those runners was Brent Leighton, who was a freshman in Bishop’s senior year (1984-85), and he rekindled the memories of his former teammate in the Warren Bishop Memorial Run.

“He just worked extremely hard at running and gave 110 percent,” Leighton said. “He was just someone that I looked up to.”

A brother and sister team cruised to first-place finishes in the race with Hampden Academy graduate Chris Peverada winning the men’s race in 16 minutes, 21 seconds while Molly Peverada won the women’s race in 18:52. Molly will be a senior at Hampden in the fall while her brother will run for the University of Chicago.

Leighton enjoys how the community comes together for a race like this.

“It’s really great to have a race like this, to keep his memory alive,” he said. “Personally, I make a conscious effort to come here and run it every year, its great that they have a scholarship in his name.”

Longtime Hampden coach and race director Dick Balentine recalled a story about Bishop’s toughness.

“His senior year [1984-85] at the end of the [cross country] season he developed a stress fracture,” he said. “We didn’t have much depth that year, going into the regional meet we could’ve used him because of our lack of depth, and he was begging me to let him run.”

Balentine said he uses the race as a time trial for his team, and he enjoys the alumni that the race brings back.

“It’s great to see people like Brett come back for the race and to see some of our alumni here,” he said.

Most of the runners competing in the race were Hampden cross country athletes, as they were having their annual preseason time trial, which many local cross country teams use to determine which runners will make up the varsity and junior varsity teams. Most area teams start their season next weekend at the Ellsworth Invitational.

Balentine has around 50 kids out this season, and numbers can be important in cross country.

“The program’s really taken off the past couple years,” Balentine said.

Balentine said that Hampden graduated a lot of boys, but the team has runners back on the girls’ side.

“We graduated a lot of boys, so we’ll have to see,” he said. “Some strong girls are back, and we’ve got a whole bunch of new people.”

The Hampden boys are the defending Eastern Maine Class B champions.

Starting with the first annual race in 1987, all the proceeds from the race have gone toward a scholarship in Bishop’s honor, which is awarded annually to a senior track/cross country athlete at Hampden. This year’s winners were Chris Peverada and Margrethe Hassell, while past winners have included athletes such as Oriana Farley, Brian Herasymchuck, Karl Moser and Molly Balentine.

The first scholarship in 1988 was awarded to Susan Bishop and Michael Williamson.

Rounding out the top five in the men’s division were Perry LeBreton (17:04), Aaron McCollough (17:52), Kevin Brown (17:58) and Evan Farley (18:05). Gaining top five finishes in the women’s division were Kristina O’Donnell (21:17), Fiona McMahon (21:42), Kimble Rawcliffe (22:31) and Rachelle Bougoin (22:43).

A total of 66 runners finished the race.