Look who's in Japan

Kentucky will be well-represented in the International Association of Athletics Federations World Cross Country Championships, a two-day event that begins in Fukuoka Japan, on Saturday.

Louisville’s Jim Estes, who is the programs manager for the long distance running division of USA Track and Field, is coordinating Team USA’s appearance in the 34th annual competition.

One of Team USA’s 36 athletes is Bowling Green, Ky., resident Michael Eaton, a Greenwood High School senior and University of Louisville signee. Eaton, who has won four Class AAA state titles in cross country and track, is the only high school student among the six runners on the junior men’s team.

The event includes six races: a senior men’s long race (12 kilometers); a senior men’s short race (4 kilometers); a senior women’s long race (8 kilometers); a senior women’s short race (4 kilometers); a junior men’s race (8 kilometers); and a junior women’s race (6 kilometers).

City Run champ wins marathon

The Rodes City Run was just a workout for James Mutuse.

Less than 24 hours after easily winning that 10-kilometer race in downtown Louisville on Saturday, the Richmond, Ky., resident ran the Covenant Health Marathon in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday and won that, too.

Mutuse, who had finished 51 seconds ahead in the City Run, completed the 26.2-mile course through Knoxville in 2:33:06.6. He beat 540 other runners and won by more than eight minutes.

The Covenant Health event also included a 5K, a half-marathon and a marathon relay.

Cyclists solidify series leads

The Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team dominated the men’s 1/2/3 category in the third race of the 2006 Kentuckiana Spring Training Series on Saturday, and team member Kevin Attkisson extended his lead in the overall standings.

Attkisson, a Louisville resident, finished second behind teammate Patrick O’Donnell in Team Barbasol/Rapid Transit’s Clark State Forest Road Race in Henryville, Ind., and increased his series point total to 57. Attkisson had won 2WheelSports’ St. Peter’s Road Race one week earlier.

O’Donnell, an Indianapolis resident, moved into second place in the standings with 34 points with his victory. Helena, Ohio, resident Michael House and Louisville's Frank Cox took third and fourth, respectively, for Texas Roadhouse.

The race originally was scheduled as the fourth of six in the series. But Ohio Valley Racing’s New Washington Classic Road Race was washed out on March 11 and the Louisville Bicycle Club’s Shawnee Park Criterium, intended to be the last race on April 15, has been cancelled. So Promotion Cycling’s Lexington (Ky.) Spring Circuit Race on Saturday will be the fourth and final race in the series this year.

Louisville’s Sean Steele (Team Louisville) cemented his lead in the 4/5/Citizen standings with a win in that category. He has 64 points, and Cincinnati’s Jason Horn (Queen City Wheels) sits in second place with 34.

Louisville’s William Eisner (Team Barbasol/Rapid Transit) won the 3/4 category, but Fishers, Ind., resident Paul Wood (Sorenson VRS) snuck into the top spot in the series standings with a third-place finish. In the closest race for a series title, Wood has 41 points and Lexington, Ky., resident Bill Crank (Commonwealth Eye Surgery) has 36.

In the women’s category, Louisville’s Tracy Huber (Texas Roadhouse) followed two second-place finishes with a win and overtook Indianapolis resident Briana Kovac (Texas Roadhouse) in the series standings. Huber has 65 points; Kovac, who did not race, has 50 points after winning both previous events.

Louisville’s Stephen Spanbauer (Papa John’s Racing Team), who won two Masters national championships in 2003, prevailed in the Masters 35-and-over category, which was contested for the first time. Louisville’s Curtis Tolson (Texas Roadhouse), who has won multiple Masters national titles in different disciplines, was second.

Rodes City Run draws a crowd

Although it was chilly in downtown Louisville this morning, the Rodes City Run was spared from the rain that drenched the Anthem 5K Fitness Classic two weeks ago. And there was no lightning.

So, with its standing as the oldest race in the Louisville Triple Crown of Running, the City Run was in a position to lure a lot of latecomers. It actually set a record with 5,819 entries, and nearly 5,100 participants finished the 10-kilometer race established in 1981.

All of those people didn’t make the second leg of the Triple Crown any more competitive at the front, however. Defending men’s winner James Mutuse and 2004 women’s winner Susie Bush, both former Triple Crown champions, each finished nearly a minute ahead of their pursuers.

Mutuse, a Richmond, Ky., resident who won the Triple Crown in 2002, claimed the City Run title for the fourth time. He broke from the lead pack less than a mile from the start line at Fourth and Broadway and continued to separate from that group, which included Louisville residents Justin Banks, Andrew Danner, and Mike Horan; Miles Krieger of Greenville, Ind.; and Cory Scheadler of Sardinia, Ohio.

Mutuse reached the finish line outside Waterfront Park Place on Witherspoon in 31:10 - 51 seconds ahead of Danner, the Polar Bear Grand Prix men’s champion, who sprinted past Banks for second place. Scheadler and Krieger were fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I wanted this one so bad,” said Mutuse, who had finished second in the Anthem 5K, the first leg in the series. “I wanted the Triple Crown. When I missed it, I said no one would take it.”

But it was known that there would be no male Triple Crown champion this year before Mutuse even arrived at the race today. Anthem 5K winner Westley Alkin, a University of Louisville graduate student and volunteer assistant coach, already had decided not to run in either the City Run or the third leg, the Papa John’s 10 Miler, on April 15.

There also will not be a female Triple Crown champion. Bush, a Lexington, Ky., resident who won the series title in 2004, has won the first two races this year but will not run in the Papa John’s 10 Miler. She plans to run in a track competition in California instead.

Bush finished the City Run in 34:54 - well ahead of Columbus, Ohio, sisters Tara and Kara Storage, who were timed in 35:36 and 35:53, respectively. Bowling Green, Ky., resident Bonita Paul, who won the race in Bush’s absence last year, was fourth. Louisville’s Jen Alessandro, the Polar Bear Grand Prix women’s champion, was fifth.

Bush, a former Morehead State University standout, bettered her time from two years ago by 1:23.

“I’m fitter than I was then,” she said. “I didn’t run particularly fast, but it’s still early in the year. I felt good out there."

Full results can be found here.

Rodes City Run coming Saturday

The 2006 Louisville Triple Crown of Running was launched with quite a bang on March 11, when lightning triggered a 10-minute delay to the start of the Anthem 5K Fitness Classic.

Although the skies above the Rodes City Run should be a little quieter on Saturday morning, the second leg of the 23rd annual series could be bigger than ever.

Established in 1981, the 10-kilometer City Run is the oldest of the Triple Crown races and pre-dates the series itself. And with 5,248 people entered after early registration closed, race director Fred Teale thinks participation could exceed 6,000 for the first time.

Westley Alkin, who won the men’s division in the Anthem 5K in his series debut, will not be included in that tally. Earlier this week, he confirmed to Beyond the Derby that he will not run in either the City Run or the third leg of the series, the Papa John’s 10 Miler, on April 15. Alkin, a former University of Arkansas star who serves as a volunteer coach in the University of Louisville program, has been advised to train at shorter distances.

So there will be no male Triple Crown champion for the fourth year in a row; Richmond, Ky., resident James Mutuse was the last in 2002.

Mutuse, who finished second behind Alkin in the Anthem 5K, also won the City Run in 2003 and in 2005 and is expected to run again. The field also could include such perennial contenders as Louisville’s Mike Horan and Clarksville, Ind., resident Alan Tobin.

Lexington, Ky., resident Susie Bush, who won the Triple Crown in the women's division in 2004, did not compete in the City Run last year but is back on track with a win in the Anthem 5K. She will run Saturday - as will Bowling Green’s Bonita Paul, who placed second to Bush in 2004 and won in Bush’s absence last year.

The USATF-certified course begins in front of the Brown Hotel at the corner of Fourth and Broadway, follows Broadway into the Highlands, circles the Cave Hill and Eastern cemeteries along Grinstead and Lexington, returns downtown along Main, and finishes near Waterfront Park at Witherspoon and Floyd. Course maps can be found here.

Late registration, at a cost of $25, will be available on Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Louisville Slugger Field. Race day registration, at a cost of $40, will be held on Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the Fifth Street parking garage. Further registration information can be found here.

Upcoming events

3/25: CYCLING: Clark State Forest Circuit Race (Kentuckiana Spring Training Series)

3/25 RUNNING: Rodes City Run (Louisville Triple Crown of Running)

4/1 CYCLING: Lexington Spring Circuit Race (Kentuckiana Spring Training Series)

4/1 RUNNING: Health Care Classic

4/2 CYCLING: White Lightning (Kentucky Points Series)

4/8 CYCLING: Pike-Gibson Challenge

4/8 RUNNING: Pacers and Racers Barnyard Dash

4/9 TRIATHLON: Max Performance Triathlon Series Race 3

4/15 RUNNING: Papa John’s 10 Miler (Louisville Triple Crown of Running)

Shawnee Park Crit cancelled

The Louisville Bicycle Club’s Shawnee Park Criterium, scheduled to be the final race in the 2006 Kentuckiana Spring Training Series, has been cancelled, according to promoter 2WheelSports.

The series originally included six races, but the second - the New Washington Classic Road Race - already had been cancelled March 11 due to wet course conditions.

So, with two races completed, there are just two remaining: Team Barbasol/Rapid Transit’s Clark State Forest Road Race on Saturday and Promotion Cycling’s Lexington Spring Circuit Race on April 1.

More information about the series can be found here. Current series standings can be found here.

Cycling series resumes after rainout

One week after the second scheduled race in the 2006 Kentuckiana Spring Training Series was cancelled due to wet course conditions, the local cycling series resumed on Saturday with 2WheelSports' St. Peter’s Road Race in Elizabeth, Ind.

Louisville resident Kevin Attkisson (Texas Roadhouse) finished four laps around the 15.7-mile loop ahead of the field in the men’s 1/2/3 category and moved into first place in the series standings. He had been fifth in the first race, the L’Espirit Road Race on March 4, and has 37 points.

Grand Rapids, Mich., resident Graham Howard (Priority Health Club) was the runner-up and took over third place in the standings with 24 points - one point behind Clarksville, Ind., resident David Hauber (Team Barbasol/Rapid Transit), who had won the first race.

Briana Kovac (Texas Roadhouse), a former University of Indiana star from Indianapolis, and Louisville’s Tracy Huber (Texas Roadhouse) finished first and second, respectively, over two laps in the women’s category again and held their positions in the standings. Kovac leads with 50 points, and Huber is second with 40.

Other winners were Gary Palmer (Team Tortuga) of Bloomington, Ind., in the 3/4 category, which raced three laps; Cincinnati’s Jason Horn (Queen City Wheels) in the 4/5/Citizen category, which raced two laps; and Trinity High School’s Andrew Llewellyn in the juniors’ category, which raced one lap.

The series leaders in those categories are Lexington, Ky., resident Bill Crank (Commonwealth Eye Surgery) in 3/4 with 36 points; Louisville’s Sean Steele (Team Louisville) in 4/5/Citizen with 39 points; and Cincinnati’s Brandon Lach (Zephyr Wheel Sports) in juniors’ with 32 points.

Full results are available here. Full standings are available here. Further information about the 2WheelSports-sponsored series, which will continue with the Clark State Forest Road Race on Saturday, is available here.

Alkin, Bush win Anthem 5K

So much for the good weather.

Lightning delayed the start of the third annual Anthem 5K Fitness Classic for 10 minutes this morning, and it rained heavily throughout most of the race in downtown Louisville. Those late-developing conditions likely convinced some of the 6,609 people who had entered to stay home.

But the Anthem 5K's strong turnout (5,171 finished the race) - and the competition - befitted its part as the first leg of the Louisville Triple Crown of Running, which is in its 23rd year as Kentuckiana’s premier running series.

Newcomer Westley Alkin pulled away from James Mutuse, a former Triple Crown champion from Richmond, Ky., and Paul Howarth, a first-timer from Indianapolis, to win the closely-contested men’s division. Alkin covered the five-kilometer course, which started and finished on Main Street in front of Slugger Field, in 14:51.

Alkin, a 24-year-old native of Ireland, ran at the University of Arkansas and now is a volunteer coach in the University of Louisville program.

Mutuse, 27, caught Howarth, 28, in the last 50 meters and leaned ahead for second place. Both were timed in 14:55.

Lexington, Ky., resident Susie Bush, another former Triple Crown champion, easily won the women’s division in 16:53. Bush, 27, finished 30 seconds ahead of Louisville’s Jen Alessandro, 25, who recently won the Polar Bear Grand Prix series title.

The Louisville Triple Crown of Running will continue with the Rodes City Run (10K) on March 25 and the Papa John’s 10 Miler/USATF Men’s National Ten Mile Championship on April 15.

Full race results can be found here. More information about the series can be found here.

And thanks to Fleet Feet Sports Louisville’s Camille Estes.

Anthem 5K starts Triple Crown

Kentuckiana’s foremost running series returns on Saturday with its first race of the year. So get ready for the Two Rivers 5K at General Butler State Resort Park in Carrollton, Ky.

Oops.

With all due respect to the second annual Kentucky State Parks Race Series (which actually does begin on Saturday with the Two Rivers 5K), the Louisville Triple Crown of Running, of course, is Kentuckiana’s foremost series.

And that should be obvious when the Triple Crown’s first race, the Anthem 5K Fitness Classic, flexes its muscles in downtown Louisville on Saturday.

Nearly 5,300 people already had entered the five-kilometer race before late registration began today, and that number could increase significantly with the promise of good weather. According to forecasts, the temperature will be approaching 60 degrees when the race begins at 8:30 a.m.

Many of the race’s top contenders are veterans, including, among the men, Brevard, N.C., resident Stuart Moran, who was second last year; Bowling Green, Ky., resident Jef Scott, who was third last year; and Scott’s twin brother James, who was third two years ago.; and, among the women, Bowling Green’s Bonita Paul, who was second last year; Lexington, Ky., resident Susie Bush, who won two years ago; and Jef Scott’s wife Michelle, who was fifth last year. In the men’s race, also watch for newcomer Paul Howarth of Indianapolis.

The Triple Crown debuted in 1984 and annually draws nearly 18,000 runners, walkers and wheelchairs. The Anthem 5K, which replaced the Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon in a restructuring after the 2003 series, will be followed by the Rodes City Run (10K) on March 25 and the Papa John’s 10 Miler/USATF Men’s National Ten Mile Championship on April 15.

More information about the series and each of the races can be found here.

By the way, the other races in the Kentucky State Parks Race Series are the Spring Classic 5K at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park on April 1; the Barren River 5K at Barren River State Resort Park on May 20; the Possum Ridge 5K at Taylorsville State Park on June 17; and the Magnolia 5K at Rough River State Resort Park on July 15. More information can be found here.

Schuler leads triathlon series

Erica Schuler continues to lead the women’s division of the first annual Max Performance Triathlon Series after winning the second race at Clear Creek Park in Shelbyville, Ky., on Sunday.

A 31-year-old resident of Morehead, Ky., Schuler finished the five-kilometer run, 12-mile bike and 400-yard swim (in the park’s indoor pool) in 1:11:08.3, well ahead of the other 10 women. Mauckport, Ind., resident Amy Clark, 35, was second in 1:18:57.2, and Louisville’s Janet Green, 53, was third in 1:22:16.1.

Schuler also won the first race on Feb. 5; the remaining two races in the series, which is run by Headfirst Performance Services and sanctioned by USA Triathlon, will be held April 9 and May 14.

Morehead’s Dan Lindsey, 54, beat 22 other men and posted the top overall time of 1:05:43.6. Richmond, Ky., resident Matt Harville, 28, was second in 1:06:37.0, and Lexington, Ky., resident Eric Slaymaker, 22, was third in 1:07:14.4. Owenton, Ky., resident Mike Stover, 35, was fourth after winning the first race.

Full results can be found here. More information about the series can be found here.

Annual cycling series starts strong

The L’Espirit Road Race, the first leg in the 2006 Kentuckiana Spring Training Series, drew a series-record 221 cyclists to the nine-mile course in LaGrange, Ky., on Saturday.

Clarksville, Ind., resident David Hauber (Team Barbasol/Rapid Transit) won the elite men’s 1/2/3 category in the Louisville Bicycle Club Racing Team event, which followed United States Cycling Federation rules.

Louisvillians Brian Baker (Papa John’s) and James Gray (Team Louisville) finished second and third, respectively. Curtis Tolson (Kentucky Flyers), a Louisvillian who has won multiple cycling national championships, was 11th.

Other winners included Fishers, Ind., resident Paul Wood in the 3/4 category; Luke Snell in the 4/5/Citizen category; Indianapolis resident and former Indiana University star Briana Kovac (Texas Roadhouse) in the women’s category; and Fond Du Lac, Wis., teenager Thomson Remo (Baraboo Sharks) in the juniors’ category.

All of the winners - except Snell - took an early lead in the overall series standings. Snell is not licensed with the United States Cycling Federation and thus is not eligible in the overall competition. So Louisville’s Sean Steele (Team Louisville), who placed second behind Snell, is the initial leader in the 4/5/Citizen standings.

The six-race series, which receives promotional support from 2WheelSports, will continue with Ohio Valley Racing’s New Washington (Ind.) Road Race on Saturday.

More race results can be found here. Series standings can be found here. More information about the series can be found here (Adobe Reader required).