The 28th Consecutive
Times Picayune - Crescent City Classic
Saturday April 15th, 2006.

One of the world’s great 10K, (6.2 miles) races. Flat, fast and fun, the Crescent City Classic is an Easter Weekend Tradition, not in New Orleans, but the world. The 2006 Crescent City Classic was no exception.

The top 10 runners were all Kenyans. Pine Belt Pacers Nestor Ansola and Pijume Diwesi finished in the top 500 with a time of 46:08. See the Crescent City Classic web site for complete details.

Race Reports:

The 28th Annual Crescent City Classic started at 8:30 a.m. on Decatur Street near Jackson Square and ended in City Park near Tad Gormley Stadium. Around 14,000 runners and walkers participated in the 10K event under sunny conditions, high humidity, and temperatures in the 70-80s. Right before the race, Bill Rogers gave the runners some words of encouragement and advice. By the way, who is Bill Rodgers? He was in the 1976 U.S. Olympic team. He was also a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon, and the Azalea Trail 10K Run. In addition, he was inducted into USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2000. It was very nice to have him running with us in the race.

The winner of the CCC was Kenyan Gilbert Okari who finished in 27:49 followed by his country men Sammi Kipketer four second behind (27:51) and Boaz Cheboiywo (27:52). The top ten runners were all from Kenya. Pine Belt Pacer Nestor Raul Anzola arrived to the finish line a couple of seconds behind the Kenyans, 1,100 seconds to be exact. However, he was lucky enough to receive one of the posters given by the race organizers and to finish one minute ahead of the living legend Mr. Rodgers. Pine Belt Pacers Kily Garcia, Donna Davis, and Jim Puckett also had a great race and finished a couple of minutes later. Isabella Ochichi from Kenya won the women competition in 30:54. This was her fourth consecutive victory in the CCC. Benita Johnson from Australia was second in 21:28, and Kenya’s Magdalene Makunzi was third in 31:55.

The post-race party in Tad Gormley Stadium was also great. Participants enjoyed the traditional jambalaya, fruit, Gatorade, smoothies, beer, and other goodies. Unless you are running the Boston Marathon the same weekend as the CCC, I recommend you to mark and include this race in your calendar. © Pijume Diwesi

I traveled on Friday to New Orleans to run my first Crescent City Classic as a beginner. I can tell you that it was one on of the best experiences of my life. It was Amazing, there were 17,000 runners. I arrived one hour before the race in order to get a bus to the start line. There were about 7 school buses, witch were not enough for the number of runners. In addition, when the race started I had to run between the walkers, so I was forced to run on the sidewalks and on the other side of the boulevard, just to keep a good pace….I still very much enjoyed the race, and improved my time for a PR 55:34.

At the end of the race, we had a wonderful festival with plenty of beverages, food, and music with all the New Orleans spirit. At the festival, I met the "Faster Colombian Runner" living in Hattiesburg, who finished in the first 500. Congratulations Nestor Anzola, when I grow up I want to be just like you!….

I want to say THANKS to Becky for all the advice and encouragement. The speed sessions on Tuesday help me keep my discipline in training and they are improving my time faster than I thought.

I cannot wait to run this race again. © Kily Garcia