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Saturday, August 5th, 2006 Pensacola, FL Two of the “Fantastic Four” PBP Rookies made a little weekend road trip to run in the Capt’N Fun Bushwacker 5K in beautiful Pensacola Beach, FL. The race was a point to point 3.1 mile course starting at South Santa Rosa Rec. in Gulf Breeze, looping thru a very nice neighborhood then over Bob Sikes Bridge(commonly referred to as the Pensacola Beach Bridge) and finished at the Boardwalk near the Pensacola Beach Visitors Center. The race was a benefit of Big Brothers Big Sisters of N.W.F. and was a very well organized race by Running Wild & Capt’n Fun Runners Clubs.
We could not have asked for better weather conditions when the race started at 7:30am. The Friday night thunderstorm (I actually think it was a small Hurricane) was still lingering early that morning as we boarded the BIG yellow bus that would take us to the starting line. Dark clouds, a few drizzles, and a lot of wind provided wonderful running conditions unlike the other HOT summer 5k’s we’ve ran over the past few months.
The most challenging part of the course was the Pensacola Beach Bridge. For those of you who do not remember exactly which bridge in Florida this is, it is the one that is a straight and steady climb UP (65 ft clearance above sea level to be exact). It was very challenging and was a major endurance check for all runners.
There were 921 runners, 157 walkers, and 2 wheelchairs participating in this fantastic event. 21 yr old Michael Padilla of Pensacola was the overall winner with a time of 16:16. There were 2 runners who were 82 years young that finished the race with awesome times…..WOW!! It’s people like that who are inspirations to us all!
The two PBP Rookies were just happy to be running and relieved the storm was over! Kelton “The Kenyan” Turner ran a 24:49 and finished 210 out of 921 also finishing 23/48 in his age division. Christy Pickering ran a 31:17 finishing 584 out of 921 and 32/59 in her age division. The Post Race Party at Quietwater Beach Boardwalk was awesome! Food, fun, refreshments, and live music was enjoyed by all. This is definitely a race that we will run again, and I would encourage all you PBP veterans to put this one on your calendar for next year! It is an awesome experience! - Christy Pickering
You can view the Bushwacker 5K official race results at http://members.cox.net/kei1race/bush062.txt
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Runners headed past toll both to finish line
Kelton Turner, Christy Pickering, & Lovely Beach Beauties
Two fantastic cheerleaders we found along race route
Two of the Fantastic Four PBP Rookies
Kelton Turner, Christy Pickering
It was reported that the other two of the group were busy!
Andy Maxwell was running in Niagara Falls
& Dwayne Higgason busy training for half-marathon and
was unable to attend this run.
