Dwain McDuffie won the River City Classic 10K event on Saturday, February 26, 2005.  McDuffie was joined Saturday morning by 204 other runners and walkers to complete the first race of the Mississippi Grand Prix Circuit in a cloudy, cold, forty degree weather.  The runners were faced with light winds and threat of rain as they made their way around Natchez downtown along a pretty hilly course.

 McDuffie finished in 34:28, thirty-one seconds ahead of runner-up Rob Oates (34:59).  Third place went to Gulf Coast runner Max Lemmons who stopped the chronometer in 35:27.  David McDuffie was the first Master's Finisher with a time of 36:26 - placing sixth overall.  Lawrence Uter obtained the Grand Master title with a time of 42:56.  In the female field, Yolanda Brown controlled the race from the beginning setting the winning time in 45:12.  Second place was for Mary Lohrenz who finished in 46:02.  Placing third was Miriam Allred, crossing the finish line in 47:54.  Angela Wagoner was the first female master overall (48:40), and Donna Andrew was the Grand Master winner in 48:09.

 The winner of the 5K-Walk race for this year's edition was Debbie Cheney (who else?) with a time of 26:49.  In second position was Tina Branan (29:50).  The third place was for Natalie Vance who finished in 32:50.  David Chaney marked the pace for all the other male walkers claiming the final victory with a time of 30:48.  Second qualified was Nick Kendall with a total time of 31:12, followed closely by Larry Sykes with a time of 31:24.

 I was lucky to participate and witness the best 1-mile fun race around Mississippi.  There were more than 200 “two to 12 years old guys” registered for the race.  When the gun came off, all these kids started running as fast they could.  It was fun to see the big crowd of kids, parents, and grandparents running together (more than 300 souls), and people in the streets cheering for all of them.  At the end, Seth Cantrell was the winner of the one-mile fun race in 6:37, and Kennedy Beard (7:44) got the victory in the women's category.

 As for my own performance, I did OK, and the official results put me in 11th place overall at 33:08 in the 5K-Walk.  As I was planning to run the following day in the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans, I decided to walk, not to run.  The decision paid off.  I got the top position in the Master category.  By the way, it marked the first time I won the Master title in a race in a Mississippi Track Club Grand Prix event (what a miracle :)

 After the race, bananas, apples, water, sport and soft drinks, and cookies hit the spot, and a party atmosphere followed.  Major congratulations to the organizers, the Mississippi Track Club and the Natchez Community Hospital volunteer for putting on an excellent and well-organized event.  Overall, I recommend this race to anyone within shouting distance.  See you guys next week in Vicksburg in the “knees-breaking” Run Through History 10K run!

 Complete results are presented in the following URL à

http://www.mstrackclub.com/Results/2005/RvrCty/2005rivercity.htm