Heidi Melia’s primary motivation for coming to the Run Thru History wasn’t the thrill of victory or the famous cannon trophies.

“This is my favorite race because it’s the only one that has beer. We’re from New Orleans, and all of the races there have beer,” Melia said, before jokingly adding, “to deal with three kids under 7, you have to drink a little.”

The 37-year-old Madison resident got to celebrate a little more at the Run Thru History’s legendary postrace party on Saturday. Wearing a sports bra with the slogan, “Will run for beer,” Melia won the women’s division of the 10-kilometer run on her third try.

She finished 22nd overall out of nearly 350 runners, with a time of 43 minutes and 36 seconds, and was 90 seconds ahead of the next closest woman. Heather Westerfield of Pearl crossed the line in 45 minutes even, good for 33rd overall and second in the women’s division.

“I haven’t ever won here before. It’s nice,” said Melia, who was sixth in the women’s division in her first RTH in 2006, then finished second last year. She and her family — husband Frank and children Wren, 7, Darby, 3, and Rhyan, 1 — moved to Madison from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

She said an upset stomach led to a slower than normal time.

“I was having some stomach issues. It wasn’t a very good time,” Melia said.

Vicksburg resident Dave Mealy was the overall winner, with a time of 35:35. He blitzed the field, finishing 50 seconds ahead of 2003 RTH winner Jason Lackey. Mealy, a 24-year-old teacher at St. Aloysius, was running in his first RTH. He moved to Vicksburg from Ohio last summer.

Mealy said he was cruising along, but wasn’t totally pleased with his time.

“You just run with the conditions, competition and the course. It was good enough,” he said. “I’ve run faster on a track. For this, sure.”

Mealy broke from the pack around the halfway mark and cruised home as the top runners separated from the pack. After Mealy and Lackey, Columbus’ Neal Hanley finished third in 37:14 — more than a minute and a half behind Mealy, and 49 seconds behind Lackey. Hanley won last year’s race.

“Right before the arch I took the lead,” Mealy said.

In the 5K racewalk, Dave Smalley of Florence crushed the field for his second straight RTH walk title. He crossed the finish line in 29:04, more than three minutes ahead of second-place finisher Lance Cooper of Brandon. Cooper finished in 32:16, while Elizabeth Howard won the women’s title and was third overall in 32:45.

Two-time defending women’s champion Tina Branan was battling an illness and finished sixth overall, in 33:21.

“I’m hoping to get a streak going,” Smalley joked. “I was concerned. It’s really humid and I could feel that. But it just went well.”

Cooper said he was helped by Smalley’s fast pace. While he never challenged the winner, trying to keep up made him go faster and led to an impressive showing in his first RTH walk. Cooper, 43, has been racewalking for less than a year but participated in the 10K portion of the RTH in 1990.

“I kept him in my eyesight. He walks so fast, I knew if I could keep my eye on him I’d finish decent. I lost sight of him around the last big turn,” Cooper said. “He’s a great racewalker.”

Howard was trying the 5K for only the second time, but took home her second trophy. She won the women’s masters division in 2006, then brought home the big prize this time. She and Carolyn Graham dueled for most of the race, until Graham tired near the end and Howard surged ahead. Howard finished seven seconds ahead of Graham, who crossed the line in 32:52.

“Me and Carolyn were neck-and-neck until the last kilometer,” Howard said. “She slowed down and I was able to pull away.”

A total of 947 people registered for the RTH’s 10K run, 5K walk and 1-mile fun run, and 771 actually finished the three races. That was 76 more than last year, and 82 more than in 2006. It was also the highest number of actual race participants since 2004, when 805 people finished.

Barrett Teller, a 12-year-old Vicksburg resident, outsprinted 13-year-old Andrew Wilkinson, also from Vicksburg, to win the Blue/Gray 1-Mile fun run. Teller crossed the line in 6:29, while Wilkinson finished in 6:38. Nine-year-old Davis Clayton, from Meridian, was third in 6:44. Tara Cook, a 12-year-old from Utica, won the girls’ fun run with a time of 7:13.

Shekerra Dampier, 20, of Jackson finished last in the 10K, with a time of 1 hour, 31 minutes and 27 seconds. Janice Miller, a 43-year-old from Vicksburg, was last in the 5K walk with a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 51 seconds.