Heart O' Dixie Triathlon

The Pacer Crew
Deedre, Jim, Sabrina, Nestor, Tony, Keith, and Ashely

All Cooled Down
Deedre, Jim, Sabrina
 

See Results

1. Hot and Botherd, Nestor and Ashely
2. The Girls, Ashely and Sabrina
3. Voted Best Looking Team, Ashely, Raul and Sabrina
4. Nestor's Big Finish  and no penalties
5. Tony's Big Finish....after Jim;)
6. Jim's Grand Finish - King of the Mud's secret training

Coll Pulls Closer as Mozingo / Barrett Spat Develops

Pine Belt Pacer President Jim Coll tightened the battle for a slot of the club’s varsity triathlon squad with a victory over arch-rival Tony Mozingo at the Heart O’ Dixie Triathlon in Philadelphia, Miss., on Saturday.

Coll, whose time of 2:34:48 bested Mozingo’s 2:38:42, still trails Mozingo by approximately 6 ½ minutes two-thirds of the way through their three-race series. The final race is scheduled for Aug. 19 at the CATS Half-Tri in Arkansas.

While Coll used a strong run to best Mozingo on Saturday, the demise of Mozingo, who had defeated Coll by more than 10 minutes at the Heatwave Classic in June, may have begun Friday evening. Fellow triathletes Bill "Money 2" Byrne of Natchez, a titan among stockbrokers and adventure racer, and Wayne Jimenez, world famous physical therapist from Madison, who finished in the top 25 overall at the event, reported Mozingo was overheard arguing with his new coach Keith Barrett about race strategy late into the night.

"Keith started talking on Friday night that he is thinking about becoming a psychologist," Mozingo said.  "He starts talking about the Gatekeeper Theory, which is, in his interpretation, a way for the brain to conquer pain. That is how he says he runs marathons like he does. Anyway, I thought he was saying ‘Gay Keeper.’ So I adopt the theory and buy into it. By midnight, Keith was still lecturing me. Halfway through the race, I realized it was Gatekeeper or something."

While Mozingo’s adoption of what he thought was the "Gay Keeper" theory has come as a shock to many Pacers, including Mozingo’s wife Ashley, Mozingo’s trouble may have begun hours earlier, however, when he made what Barrett is now calling a fatal pre-race mistake.

"I sent him into the store," Barrett said, "and he came out with Gatorade! He said something about the cashier noticing his Ironman necklace. I think he lost his focus on the task at hand." Barrett, who is also serving as director of the Coll-Mozingo series, suggests that Mozingo is not only guilty of poor judgment, but may have jeopardized Powerade's sponsorship of the series, as well as a pending lucrative endorsement deal with the memory-improvement medicine, "Focus Factor." On Saturday, an obviously still shaken Barrett failed to meet Mozingo at the 3-mile mark of the run with Powerade as the two had discussed one night earlier.

While Mozingo’s troubles were well documented, there was no such confusion in the Coll camp. Coming off a great night’s sleep with no disturbances from the passed out occupants at the Good Hope RV Park, Coll was adequately prepared for the next morning. Using bike course maps created by Mike Barnes and Mike Villalonga, Coll’s wife, Deedre’, rode close behind the PBP president radioing Coll as hills and turns in the road approached and providing updates on Mozingo’s progress. Later, Coll used training methods developed by Robin Ryder to his advantage as he placed second in his age group in the run.

"Having been defeated twice in two years by Tony, I had to change my training and tactics," Coll said. "And who better to go to for advice than those who have crushed him in the past? At the encouragement of Mike Villalonga I’m learning to swim aggressively – through the other triathletes and even buoys if necessary. On the bike I believe I’ll continue to improve, and I feel like I put last year’s Heart O’ Dixie run behind me now."

Mozingo built an early lead on Coll in the swim and bike portions of the event, but could not match Coll’s speed through the hills on the run. As Mozingo approached the finish at the country’s second-oldest triathlon, he could sense defeat. Moments later, he received the bad news from a group of Pacers, including acting photographer Adrienne Hicks, who filled in for a competing Nestor Raul Anzola, and Ashley Bailey and Sabrina Langston, who joined Anzola on a team which placed sixth out of 16 teams in the mixed relay division.

"Haven’t you people ever heard the name Floyd Landis?" Mozingo answered the contingent of Pacers at finish line as he was badgered about his performance, perhaps predicting an effort in the next event similar to the Tour de France champion’s Stage 17 victory.

As Mozingo cooled down, however, he was shocked to have learned that representatives of Focus Factor announced they had signed a multi-year deal with Pijume Diwesi to endorse their memory-improvement product.

"We heard about Pijume from Pine Belt Pacer Nestor Raul Anzola," Focus Factor spokesperson Leonard Vergunst said in a press release. "Raul told us about Pijume’s great work promoting Columbian Candy to athletes in South Mississippi. We feel that an association with Pijume will not only boost sales of Focus Factor, but help with the launch of Factor Del Foco in the fall."

Vergunst said that while the deal with Diwesi was not inked until Saturday, previous reports note that it was Diwesi’s poster-winning performance at the Crescent City Classic in April that may have shifted Focus Factor’s attention from Mozingo to the fastest Columbian in Hattiesburg.

"Diwesi has shown us that when "focused" he can produced results which top some of Mozingo’s best efforts," Vergunst said. "We’re proud to have him as part of the ‘Focus Factor’ team."

Details of the endorsement deal have not yet been announced, but Vergunst says it includes t-shirts (none of which are white), and a watch.

©© Jim Coll and Tony Mozingo

PHILADELPHIA — For 13 years, Donny Forsyth has wanted to compete in the Heart o’ Dixie Triathlon. When he finally got his chance Saturday morning, he swam, biked and ran away from the field to claim the overall championship.

Forsyth’s time of 2:00:43 bested the second-place finisher by nearly seven minutes.

On the female side, Caroline Smith was making her first racing appearance since getting sick in May. She didn’t know what to expect, but came away pleased with a time of 2:14:25 to take the top female award and place ninth overall.

Of the 210 individuals who finished this year’s race, states represented were Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, California, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma.

Forsyth, a nine-time USA Triathlon All-American (1997-2005), was the pre-race favorite.

“I had said I was going to get down here and do this race sometime,” said Forsyth, 40, of Memphis, Tenn. “It’s a classic in this area. A lot of times, I just had a conflict where I’d be out of town or had raced four weekends in a row and needed a down week, but luckily, I happened to be in Memphis. Finally, after racing 13 years, I got to come down here and do this.

“My brother, Andy, did this race back in the early ‘90s and he always spoke really highly of this race. I’ve always wanted to do it.

“It was a challenge. People had said the bike course is all downhill, but it had some good rollers in there to separate some of the bikers. I came out of the water with Mike Plumb and we got out on the bike pretty close to each other. He was gaining on me for a while, but we hit a few hills and we got separated a little bit.

“Mike’s a good guy. He’s been coming down here. He lives out in California now and a few years ago he was nice enough to hook us up with some rides out there. He’s got a great resume. He’s won every race around here for many years.”

Heart o’ Dixie followers know Plumb well as he’s won this race six times. For the second year in a row, he returned from Oceanside, Cal., to compete and his time of 2:13:30 was good for eighth place overall.

“I’ve been busy working,” said Plumb. “This is just my third race this year. It’s a bit of a hike to come here, but while California is the greatest place in the country to train, the races are so much better here. They’re a lot more fun and a lot more personable. Out in California, even a small race is going to have 1,000 people in it. You just get lost in the crowd. That’s why I like coming back to this race.

“So many of the races out here are like this, but this is the best one of all the races in the South. I like coming back every year that I can.”

Temperatures weren’t as bad as they often are this time of year.

“It wasn’t as hot as it has been down here, but the humidity was high and I was dripping the whole time,” Forsyth said.

“I would love to come back. I love doing all the local races and supporting any race that people are nice enough to put on. It take a lot of manpower to put these races on. I think some people might take that for granted, but it takes a lot of people out on the course handing water out. Kudos to these guys for doing it for 27 years. It’s awesome.

“It’s a challenge logistically, but they’ve been doing it this way for years and it’s worked out fine. (Race director) John Williams really helped me out tremendously.”

Forsyth won the Sunfish Summer Triathlon from 2002-04, but skipped this year’s race to compete in the USA Triathlon National Championships in Smithville, Mo. He placed second in his age group.

“I was pleasantly surprised by that finish at the nationals when you have the best competition in the country,” Forsyth said. “This race has some good competition here too. It’s a nice course.”

Forsyth had already won the Wolfman Duathlon in Memphis, the Rebelman Triathlon in Oxford and the Dragonfly Triathlon at Sardis this year. He also placed first in the Masters Division of the Memphis in May Triathlon and was the third overall amateur in the Buster Britton Triathlon in Pelham, Ala.

Completing the top five male finishers in this year’s Heart o’ Dixie were 2002 champion John Noblin of Jackson at 2:07:26, Patrice Lhommeau of Germantown, Tenn., at 2:10:02, Pete Pritchard of Ocean Springs at 2:11:59 and Larkin Carter of Jackson at 2:07:26.

In the female division, Smith’s time of 2:14:25 edged 2005 champion Joy Johnson of Memphis, Tenn., by just over two minutes.

“This was my first time here and it was fantastic,” said Smith of Mandeville, La. “This is my fifth year of racing. I started when I turned 30. I decided a needed a little change in my life. I’m an ex-smoker and had to lose a little weight. That got me into triathlon and I’ve really had a lot of fun with it.

“This race is awesome. They put on a good show up here. It’s different for sure. They had the best race support I’ve ever seen. I was thoroughly impressed. I’ll definitely come back.

“It was hot, but the air wasn’t as muggy and thick. I’m from Louisiana, so we get some muggies down there. There was a considerable amount of shade toward the end of the run and that was pleasant. I never really totally overheated.”

Completing the top five females are Johnson at 2:16:43, Margot Gathings of Birmingham, Ala., at 2:19:06, 2006 Sunfish Summer Triathlon champion Kelly White of Starkville at 2:21:03 and Julia Cathcart of Starkville at 2:30:20.

Richard Goldman of Philadelphia repeated as the Dr. Dickie Nowell Memorial Award winner which goes to the top finisher from Neshoba County. His time of 2:18:50 was good for 20th place overall.