Ag News
Off and running! GFB holds PB&J 5K
Posted on Nov 19, 2025 at 14:17 PM
PB&J for breakfast? You bet! Georgia Farm Bureau held the inaugural PB&J 5K at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter (GNFA) in Perry.
The inaugural PB&J 5K road race offered medals for more than 80 runners – as many as the top three in each of 30 age categories plus the overall race winners (Isak Tucker of Kathleen and Caroline Nichols of Forsyth) and masters category winners (Doug Yarbrough of Bonaire and Kathleen Burt of Macon).
Staged as a drive to recruit new Farm Bureau members, the race entrance fee doubled as their membership fee, so none of the almost 500 runners who embraced temperatures below 40 degrees at the start went home empty-handed. Each was either a newly minted GFB member or had the option of gifting a membership to someone else.
“You’re all GFB members now,” GFB President Tom McCall told the runners. “You now have access to all of our member benefits and your membership helps support our state’s farmers.”
An up-close look at the race bib. / Photo by Jay Stone
Afterward, the runners were invited to help themselves to grilled PB&J sandwiches courtesy of the Georgia Peanut Commission.
The runners took the opportunity to celebrate the iconic sandwich and Georgia’s largest economic sector, agriculture. Many runners sported PB&J-themed t-shirts. There were several hula-style skirts, and one gentleman dressed as Elsa from Frozen, penance for having lost in his fantasy football league.
Overall winner Isak Tucker of Kathleen crosses the finish line with a time of 19:06. / Photo by Jay Stone
Tucker finished the 3.1-mile course around and through GNFA in 19:06, nine seconds ahead of second-place finisher Robert Fritzsche and 39 seconds ahead of Garrett Alonzo, who finished third. In the masters category for distance runners over age 40, Yarbrough won at 19:55, good for fourth overall.
Tucker, 18, ran track and cross country at Veterans High School in Houston County and said he is a student at Central Georgia Technical College. He was at or near the front of the pack from start to finish.
“To begin with, it felt good and like any other race. Toward the end I got tired,” Tucker said. “Overall, it was a good race.”
Nichols ran the race in 22:40, eight seconds ahead of Katherine Dazzo of Warner Robins and 25 seconds ahead of Crystall Hall of Lizella. Burt finished in 23:30.
“I was pretty excited to see the one runner a little bit behind me, so I went as fast as I could,” Nichols said. “I was very excited.”
“It was a well-run race and nice flat course and it was all pavement. It was a very good course,” said Nichols, 20, an employee in the GFB Claims Department who ran track and cross country for Rock Springs Christian Academy in Lamar County when she was in high school. The 22:40 finish marked her personal best, she said.
The race was staged in conjunction with the annual Antique Tractor Show at GNFA.
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