SUN SHINES ON HATTIESBURG DUATHLETES IN WOOLMARKET

Race #3. The last Du of the series was held Sunday 6/26/05 at Woolmarket. 138 Duathaletes completed the 1mi run, 11mi. bike and 3 mi run. This was our second largest crowd ever. The weather was very cooperative. Usually this race is very hot and humid. In years past many are reduced to walking a large part of the final leg. We even got coverage by the Sun Herald. Photos, articles and the complete results appeared in the sports section of Mondays paper. The athletes came from Hattiesburg, New Orleans, Slidel, and one guy from Atlanta Georgia. The final results along with the award winners can be found on the gulfcoastrunning clubs web site. Leonard summed the race best. He said," Nobody got hurt and nobody walked away mad. So It was a good race." And as for the guy from Atlanta. It was his first Du. and he did it on a borrowed bike. I gave him a ride back to the motel and he was talking about going to the nearest bike shop to see about getting a new bike. Seems we hooked a Newbee. © Bob Clark. Dave Beckett finished 29th of 138 contestants, first in his age group, and Steve Phillips finished 34th.

Race #2 A handful of Pine Belt Pacers headed to Woolmarket Sunday morning 5/22/05 for the second of three duathlons organized by the Gulf Coast Running Club.  The event consisted of a 2-mile run, an 11.4-mile bike and a second 2-mile run.
Deb Osteen posted the performance of the day, not only dominating the women's field (and yours truly), but finishing an impressive 12th overall with a time just over one hour. Deb finished the first run in approximately 12:20, then used a much-improved bike time (passing me in the process) to put the field away.
Kim Ryder and Vicki Copeland, both making their first appearances in the Woolmarket series, each came away with awards, making it a clean sweep for the Pacer women. Kim finished second in the 30-34 age group with a time of 1:14:19, while Vicki completed the event in 1:18:31, good for second in the 50-54 age group.
On the men's side, Dave Beckett and Steve Phillips both returned home with awards, finishing in the top 35 overall, with times of 1:03:39 and 1:04:13, respectively.  Not far behind was Bob Clark, who placed third in the 55-59 age group with a time of 1:07:43.
As for me, I finished in 1:02:34, 26th overall, getting nipped at the line by a 15-year-old for 25th.  Overall, everyone seemed pleased with the day.  Other Hattiesburg-area duathletes participating included Trey Pounds, who finished in under an hour and 11th overall. Russ Lark finished 21st overall in 1:02:07.
The final Woolmarket Duathlon will be held Sunday, June 26, and will consist of a 1-mile run, 11.4-mile bike and 3-mile run. © Jim Coll  See Results.

Race #`1 SUN SHINES ON HATTIESBURG DUATHLETES IN WOOLMARKET
The first of three races in the Woolmarket Duathlon Series was held on Sunday 4/24/05 put on by the Gulf Coast Running Club. Hearing that usual powerhouses Brandon Guillory and Robin Ryder would stay home Russ “Big Bird” Lark and I loaded up and headed south. If you have ever done these races you know they are competitive and held on a fairly hilly course. About 120 people showed up for the first installment which is really a biathlon consisting of a 5k run and 11 mile bike. No run at the end. A good crop of Hattiesburg athletes showed up and I tried to run with Deb Osteen who, by the way, looks and smells better than my usual running buddies.(sorry Mike, Jerry, Robin and Jim). No matter what she looks and smells like I could not keep up with her on the run. Deb ended up winning the overall female award in a time of 55:51(27th overall), on get this a borrowed bike. I was able to put together a good bike ride , finishing 50:58 (4th overall) and winning the masters division. You know what they say about the sun and a dogs butt. Trey Pounds did well with a 53:24 (11th). Russ also had a good bike going 54:07(33rd). There was no clydesdale division and Russ finished 33 seconds out of the money in his age group. Steve Phillips went 55:36 (24th) and 2nd in his age group. Dave Beckett also did well with a 59:12 (47th) and 2nd in his age group. Again we made a good showing even without Brandon and Robin. My advice, keep your butt pointed at the sun because you never know what might happen.©Michael R. Barnes, Esq.

Great turn out for the coldest of the Woolmarket events ever. Some very good times were posted. I personally didn't post a good time. In fact it was my slowest one ever. I rode my bike out to the race and promptly froze my butt off going out there. I thought well, I'll get to warm up in the building when I get there. Oh, no! The building wasn't open. So I stood around trying to regain some body heat. When the race started I couldn't get moving. In fact I thought I was backing up people were going by me so fast. By mile two I was moving and grooving and starting to pass some of the folks back. Then came the bike. It's a nice down hill start with gently flowing hills. I've done the course enough to know the climb out of the river bottom starts at mile 5.5 so I remind myself to save a little for the climb. It didn't matter after Jeb Berry Hill I knew that I should have been doing more biking prior to the race. After making the turn on 3 rivers Rd. I thought this ain't so bad. Wrong! as the climb got steeper my thighs started to burn. I began to feel twinges of cramps in my calf. Well enough of that I did manage to get to the finish line. The race went well. Leonard managed to find some watermelon and other after race refreshments. Some folks had a dog problem and one lady complained about lack of course marshals. We have no control over the dogs. and as for lack of course folks, we welcome all volunteers. See results. © Bob Clark