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See Azalea Trail Results |
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Azalea Trail Run Race Report This year’s Azalea Trail Run in I saw the picture on the website of
the other Pacers at the Azalea Run, but I was there Friday night through
Saturday It was a very enjoyable race. I always enjoy the dancing, drinks and
juggling along the way. Yes, I too broke
out doing the twist approaching mile 5.
Might add, I got a standing ovation.
Burtch had run off and left me by then.
Wonder why? The after race food
and Michelob Ultra were great.
The barbeque on the way home at the Barbeque Pit on enjoy this race so much, if my schedules permits, I will be back! ********************************************************* © Tony Mozingo: Mobile, Alabama- Under the giant live oaks and along the wide, flat city streets that make the Azalea Trail, runners and walkers from around the globe participated in the twenty-eighth running of the Port City Pacers’ premier event. For once, the weather was perfect as literally thousands of people gathered for one of the South’s great annual races. Some famous and not-so-famous runners from south Mississippi were among that number, including Robert Mozingo, Jim- excuse me, “James P.”- Coll, (he’s been calling himself James P. ever since Bush got re-elected and he saw the president’s nephew and father distinguish themselves from him by their middle initial…), Steve Ulery, Phillip Wedgeworth, Dr. Martha Rae Sartor, Nestor Raul Anzola, and yours truly. (Someone said Sonny Jarrell was there, but I didn’t get a glimpse of him. It was a great day for a run. At the exposition before the race, an unusually chipper Leonard Verngunst actually spoke to this reporter before the race. “Hey man,” he said, obviously confusing me with Iron Mike Barnes. “You gonna do some duathlons with us this Summer?” I didn’t want to tell him that I had ridden to the race with Phillip Wedgeworth as I was hoping to hang out with him and Ed Wheeler under the auspices of being on their level, but before I could get a chance to visit with him awhile, Phillip had come back to where we were standing and blew it by asking me if I were really going to try to break 45:00 and qualify for next week’s Crescent City Classic. When Verngunst realized that I wasn’t Mr. Barnes, he said, “Come on Dr. Wheeler, let’s go warm-up.” (So much for my brush with greatness. The last time I felt that low was when I asked Nancy and Drew at Hattiesburg Bicycle Center if I could ride with them and Butch Sims and they laughed at me). The performance of the day was turned in by James P., who covered the 6.2 miles in less than forty minutes. I started out at a good pace and passed Wedgeworth at about Mile 5 and reached my goal. (The great professor from Jones Junior College actually priced some new running shorts at the expo. after being beaten by me for the first time in several years). Robert hung out with the Kenyans while waiting for the two-mile run, polishing off several Powergels in secret before the race. His performance was a little off for obvious reasons. We all were healthy and happy at the finish though, which is the important thing. After the race, everyone enjoyed the festivities at the expo. and dined on Jambalaya while listening to a washed-up bunch of Cajuns playing Zydeco. As we left for home, we tried to speak to the Executive Director of the New Orleans Track Club, Chuck George, who ran his twenty-fifth consecutive Azalea Trail 10K. “Don’t even ask me for any V.I.P. passes to the Crescent City Classic, man,” he said as I approached him… “Last time I gave you dem passes, you made a pass at one of them Kenyan womens and got me a peck of trouble.” “Yeah, but that been several years ago,” I said. “I’m married, Bud.” “Yeah, the poor thing’s prolly already a basket case, too,” he added. “You got that right,” my adopted son Robert added. “And so am I after three Powergels and a Red Bull chaser". *********************************************************
© Pijume Diwesi: Great
weather was present during the celebration of the Twenty-Eighth edition of the
Annual Azalea Trail Run in Mobile. For the first time in the
sport history, a person from Kenya won a premier 10K road race in the
United States (yeah, right!). Luke Kipkosgei was the
overall winner with a time of 28:37 followed by his countrymen Kibowen, Gwako,
Momanyi, Ndereba y Mayko; all of them finishing just 2 to 4 seconds behind
Kipkosgei. Matui, Itate, Onsare and Nyamongo also
from Kenya completed the top ten list in the men's
category. The women's race belonged to Sally Barsosio from Kenya, dominating
the competition in 32:28. The runner-up was Tatyana Petrova
from Russia (32:31) and third place went to Olga Romanova (32:38) also
from Russia. Kelly Keane from USA was fourth in
32:45, and Yelena Burykina from Russia finished fifth
in 32:56.
These are
the finish times of some of the Pine Belt Pacers:
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