Sara Gibson
Mark MaleckyGeno Phillips did something Saturday at age 43 that he also did at 37 and 40.
The Red Bank Middle School teacher and coach won the Chickamauga Chase 15-kilometer road race in the national battlefield.
But it was a new experience for Sara Gibson, a physical therapist who just moved to Chattanooga in December from Jackson, Miss. -- after she did the inaugural Chattanooga Ironman triathlon last fall. She ran the Chickamauga Chase once before -- "five or six years ago," she said, "but I'm a lot faster now."
And Mark Malecky won his first race of any kind when he passed fellow Chattanoogan Cullom Boyd at the end of the eight-mile trail race. It was restored to the event's schedule in a partnership with Wild Trails after some National Park Service-approved revisions to the off-road course from its 2013 debut.
Malecky, the 37-year-old husband of the Chattanooga Track Club manager, finished in 54 minutes, 29 seconds with Boyd four seconds behind and Fred Edgemon third in 57:48. Kiersten Boyd, 24, was the women's trail-race winner in 1:03:22 with Jan Gautier and Mary Wood second and third.
"I never even won a heat in track before," said Malecky, who ran one year at the University of Pittsburgh, adding that at 6-foot-5 he never was known for his kick. "The other guy carried me through. I was close to him at the end, so I went for it. It worked out OK."
He praised the course.
"I knew it was going to be muddy. I was ready," he said. "I love it. It's goofy and muddy, but it was a lot of fun."
After his 51:55 in the trademark 15k, Phillips said the 47-year-old Chickamauga Chase "is my favorite race of any race I've ever done. George (Skonberg, the event's longtime race director) is first-class all the way."
Dean Thompson of Cohutta, 49, was second and the masters winner in 55:29, and Hugh Enicks, 55, was third and the grandmasters winner in 57:00. Jeremy Miller (58:34) and Kevin Huwe (59:37) were the only others under an hour.
Jack Findley won the accompanying 5k in 16:48 and led Phillips and everybody else in the simultaneous start to where the two road races diverged. Pretty much after that, Phillips was all alone.
"This was the slowest winning time I've had here, but it was the first time there wasn't a group of us -- seven or eight -- most of the way," he said.
He didn't run last year's Chase because he took off from February to August to recover from injury.
Last year's 15k women's winner, Jennifer Stocks, has had a hurt knee this winter, so she began her return to competition Saturday in the 5k, where she took another first place and was fourth overall in 18:25 with her husband, Lucas, second to Findley in 17:22.
Her successor as the 15k women's champ, Gibson, was 12th overall in 1:05:33. Kelly McCarthy and Rachel Jones were 20th and 22nd in 1:07:34 and 1:08:30 as the next two females.
Gibson, 30, grew up in Huntsville, Ala., and was a swimmer at the University of Evansville (Ind.). She's looking forward to another Chattanooga Ironman, which will be her fourth of the long triathlons overall. She's done several half marathons, she said.
"I like 15ks, too, but there aren't many of them," she added.
She said last fall's visit "reinforced" a decision to move to Chattanooga, which already was "at the top of the list" for her and her husband.
"It's closer to home (Huntsville) but not too close, and this is just a super, outdoorsy city."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.
Running
CHICKAMAUGA CHASE
Top four per age group (and top 40 overall) in Saturday's 15-kilometer race through the Chickamauga Battlefield:
Overall winners: Geno Phillips 51:55; Sara Gibson (12) 1:05:36. Masters winners: Dean Thompson (2) 55:29; Lisa Logan (32) 1:09:20. Grand masters winners: Hugh Enicks (3) 57:00; Karen Leavitt (80) 1:16:33. Senior grand masters winners: Curt Zacharias (30) 1:09:17; Paula Cooper (111) 1:19:54.
Females
Ages 19-under: Laura Wagner (37) 1:09:49, Ashlynn McNeal 1:15:20, Emily Davis 1:17:03. 25-29: Kelly McCarthy (20) 1:07:34, Rachel Jones (22) 1:08:30, Ashley Patrick (39) 1:10:04. 30-34: Susan Eckelmann 1:15:49, Kari Swafford 1:15:59, Catherine Sams 1:17:22. 35-39: Mary Hernandez 1:18:10, Anita Jones 1:19:19, Destin Griffin-Trussell 1:19:22. 40-44: Kristen Curtis 1:14:41, April Threlkeld 1:21:54, Vivian Anderson-Barrera 1:22:37. 45-49: Connie Petty 1:16:36, Trish Newsom 1:16:44, Barbara Ensign 1:19:20. 50-54: Nikki Thomas 1:24:55, Corinne Henderson 1:26:59, Ronda Lyons 1:28:13. 55-59: Doris Windsand-Dausman 1:17:37, Connie Brand 1:32:05, Vickie Pitts 1:34:01. 60-64: Victoria Berghel 1:31:58, Eileen Johnson 1:36:01, Kristine Johson 1:36:54. 65-69: Sue Anne Brown 1:34:44. 70-over: Bonnie Wassin 2:00:51.
Males
Ages 20-24: Ken Curran (8) 1:02:39, Dan Kennedy 1:11:21, Marco Bianchini 1:13:24. 25-29: Kevin Huwe (5) 59:37, Jordan Longstreth (14) 1:06:41, Kyle Trent (23) 1:08:44, Tracy Klinger (38) 1:09:59. 30-34: Robert Gean (15) 1:06:33, Ansley Defoor (25) 1:08:50, Eric Sisemore (28) 1:09:09, J.C. Thompson (31) 1:01:11, Nathan Fugate (40) 1:10:05. 35-39: Jeremy Miller (4) 58:34, Jose Pulido (7) 1:02:15, Russ Rogers (17) 1:07:06, Jeff Richmond (19) 1:07:25, Nathan Barstow (34) 1:09:09, Shane Wright (36) 1:09:50. 40-44: Philip Rogers (6) 1:00:16, Scot Hamby (11) 1:04:43, Elijah Anderson Barrera (26) 1:09:00, Nick McKinney (29) 1:09:09. 45-49: Les Conner (9) 1:03:02, Ted Arrowsmith (13) 1:06:11, Robert Barnes (16) 1:06:49, David Moghani (18) 1:07:17, Scott Williams (21) 1:08:32. 50-54: John Gracy (10) 1:03:14, Paul Talbott (24) 1:08:56, Jude Hacherl (27) 1:09:06. 55-59: Larry Gammon (33) 1:09:16, Dwight Gardenhire (35) 1:09:17, Geary Fults (41) 1:10:29. 60-64: Mike Usher 1:11:08, John Crawley 1:13:38, Greg Heath 1:15:21. 65-69: Craig Kelly 1:24:33, Steve Rogers 1:24:41, Steve Deuel 1:43:05. 70-over: Sergio Bianchini 1:15:05, Al Klimaitis 1:28:28.
Wheelchair division: Jim Kean, age 52, 46:12.
5K AGE-GROUP WINNERS
(And top 20 overall)
Overall winners: Jack Findley 16:48; Jennifer Stocks (4) 18:26. Masters winners: Warren Sinor (8) 20:16; Sharon Goforth (38) 23:52. Grand masters winners: Bill Wright (17) 22:03; Renee McClanahan 27:25. Grand masters winners: David Leatherman (21) 22:35; Connie Regal 28:49.
Females
14-under: Skye Remko 23:17. 15-19: Brooke Guess 28:04. 20-24: Stephanie Silvers 22:46. 25-29: Megan Brown 25:35. 30-34: Ashley Humble 23:15. 35-39: Vanessa McDaniel 27:02. 40-44: Kelley Morse 26:36. 45-49: Lisa Anderson 24:03. 50-54: Patti Silvers 29:54. 55-59: Sarah Bowen 28:13. 60-64: Vicki Corbett 28:50. 65-69: Brenda Eddings 42:58. 70-over: Beth Dial 33:54.
Males
14-under: Jasper Wilson (10) 21:00, Jackson Lillard (12) 21:10, Dane Beard (16) 21:56. 15-19: Noah Cochran (7) 20:06. 20-24: Lucas Stocks (2) 17:22. 25-29: Nathan Helton (3) 18:21. 30-34: Zoe Long (5) 19:23, Lim Seang (6) 19:39, Nathan Daugherty (13) 21:23, Keith Barclift (19) 22:12. 35-39: Scott McDaniel (9) 20:36, Chad Anderson (11) 21:07. 40-44: Christopher Butler 23:31. 45-49: Craig Baker (14) 21:28, Larry Aulich (15) 21:46, David Hartman (18) 22:12, Mark Curoke (20) 22:33. 50-54: Zoltan Szabo 22:51. 55-59: Brian Clements 22:41. 60-64: Louis Bryan 23:10. 65-69: Roger Ours 25:14. 70-over: Lawrence Cook 27:54.
TRAIL RACE WINNERS
(And top 20 overall, 8 miles)
Overall winners: Mark Malecky 54:29, Cullom Boyd (2) 54:33, Fred Edgemon (3) 57:48; Kiersten Boyd (9) 1:03:22, Jan Gautier (13) 1:06:44, Mary Wood (17) 1:07:53.
Females
Ages 19-under: Lea Mulligan. 20-24: K. Boyd, Leah Talley 1:21:00. 25-29: Jordan Stern 1:16:12. 30-34: Rebecca Beasley 1:13:56. 35-39: Chantelle Kirk 1:13:27. 40-44: Robin Daugherty 1:18:45. 45-49: J Gautier, M Wood, Holly Kimsey 1:21:03. 50-54: Amy Oliver 1:31:47. 55-59: Janet Felton 1:21:37.
Males
Ages 19-under: Caleb Casey (6) 1:01:22. 20-24: Roni Garayanala 1:18:32. 25-29: Joshua Cornelius (14) 1:07:06, William Hale (15) 1:07:17. 30-34: C. Boyd, F. Edgemon, Brian Hay (5) 1:00:43, Ryan Davis (8) 1:02:21, Joseph Watson (10) 1:04:11. 35-39: M. Malecky, Dan Henry (19) 1:08:27. 40-44: Darren Howard (7) 1:01:22, David Kyle (11) 1:05:11, Raul Cervantez (18) 1:08:00. 45-49: Matt Buck (16) 1:07:16. 50-54: Bill Minehan (4) 1:00:00, Mel Edwards (20) 1:08:40. 55-59: Mark Keisling (12) 1:06:07. 60-over: Tommy Nichols (21) 1:09:00.