NATCHEZ &8212; The Art & Soul festival has been celebrating the finer things in life all weekend, but Saturday morning saw 36 runners show off the area&8217;s athletic ability.

The Art & Soul 5K run kicked off early Saturday morning downtown on Main St., and some 20 minutes later Trinity Episcopal student Chas Moroney was the first to cross the finish line.

Moroney said he was always up for a good run.

&8220;I race cross country, and I usually run a couple of races downtown every year,&8221; he said. &8220;This is the first one I&8217;ve won in a while.&8221;

Race organizer Kay Ketchings was excited with the turnout for the first edition of the Art & Soul 5K.

&8220;I&8217;ve done a couple races for the Heart Walk and other things,&8221; she said. &8220;The runners here are paying a little more, but it&8217;s going to a good cause. Everything is going to Art & Soul. If we had had 20 I would&8217;ve been happy, and we had 36.&8221;

Janee Routh was the first female to cross the finish line, clocking in at a time of 23:16.

Moroney said he was happy to come across the finish line first.

&8220;I used to win the one-mile fun runs,&8221; he said. &8220;Then I got too old. I&8217;ve come in second in a few of these. It was good to win.&8221;

The first-, second- and third-place finishers all received $25, $15 and $10 downtown dollars, respectively.

Ketchings was excited with the first Art & Soul 5K, but said she couldn&8217;t have done it without the help of several special people.

&8220;I want to thank all my volunteers who came out this morning,&8221; she said. &8220;We&8217;ve probably got 25 of them. I also want to thank Chief Mike Mullins. He always bends over backwards to make sure our runners are safe, and we couldn&8217;t have done this without him.&8221;