Vicksburg racewalker Tina Branan nearly unbeatable on the course

Last May, Tina Branan was cruising along at the Heart of Mississippi 5-kilometer racewalk in Carthage. She was in first place, halfway through the course, when she felt a tickle in her throat.

A second later, when she realized what it was, she stopped walking and started coughing and gagging.

“I was clipping along and all I know is I sucked a bug down my throat,” Branan said.

Branan quickly recovered and finished the race, but her lead was gone and she ended up finishing third. No word on whether any competitors planted the bug in her path, but it might not be a bad plan. There aren’t many other ways to slow down the 49-year-old Vicksburg resident.

In the last two years, Branan has won 23 of 28 events in the Mississippi Track Club’s Grand Prix series. The Track Club awards points at various events throughout the year, with the winner receiving a championship prizes. Branan now has two of those in the women’s masters division for 40-49-year-olds, along with dozens of other single-race medals, ribbons and trophies lying around her home. She’ll try to add another on Saturday at the 29th annual Run Thru History in the Vicksburg Military Park.

“I know sooner or later somebody’s going to catch me. But it feels good,” Branan said of her status as the reigning queen of Mississippi racewalkers. “This past weekend in Natchez I was sick as a dog and the next girl was nine seconds behind me.”

Branan’s first walk was just for fun. She and a few co-workers signed up for the Turkey Trot in St. Joesph, La., in 1993. Some more leisurely strolls followed over the next couple years, before she joined the Track Club and got into competitive racewalking in 1995. She won her first medal about three years later.

“The first trophy I ever won was a medal at Port Gibson. I thought, ‘This is cool. I can do this,'” Branan said.

It was a while before she was dominating, though. Others were already there.

While Branan was getting the hang of the proper technique for racewalking — walkers can be disqualified for bad form, such as bending their knees — Richland’s Barbara Duplichain was on top of the mountain. Duplichain was a borderline Olympic-level walker who once won 12 straight Run Thru History titles and dominated the scene until injuries slowed her down and eventually sidelined her in 2002.

After Duplichain, Vicksburg’s Debbie Cheney — a good friend of Branan’s — assumed the top spot. Cheney won four straight overall RTH titles from 2002-05 and Grand Prix championships each year. By the time she gave up walking to try running in 2005, Branan was ready. She eased into the top spot and hasn’t looked back.

She’s won the last two women’s masters Grand Prix titles and the last two RTH titles. Branan has yet to win an overall RTH championship and will be hard-pressed to do so this year. Her times, in the 31-minute range, are much faster than most of the walkers in the women’s division but also about a minute slower than the ones now at the top of the men’s division.

The lack of overall dominance may be why Branan flinches when she’s compared to Duplichain and Cheney.

“I’m still a heck of a lot slower than they were. I’m still slow,” Branan said. “I never saw myself as being as good as they were. They were the best.”

Branan is pretty good, though. Recently, she has been battling a bad hamstring and a cold. Heading into last week’s Natchez Trace 5K, she was worried about adding another loss to her total. She ended up winning by 9 seconds over Elizabeth Howard. Still, she jokes that winning isn’t her primary concern — especially with her recent ailments.

“You always want to beat your time and better yourself,” she said. “I always get out there and say I want to finish standing up.”

On Saturday, she’ll go for her third straight Run Thru History title after winning the women’s title by 1 minute and 28 seconds last year. Her time of 31 minutes, 14 seconds was good for third overall. She was second overall in 2006 — first in the women’s division — with a time of 31:22. Among women walkers, she hasn’t finished worse than fourth since 2003, when she was sixth.

She said she has a good feeling about this weekend’s race.

“Before we get to race, my fingers start tingling. I don’t know if it’s nerves or what,” Branan said. “And I’ve been having them all week.”

If you goThe 29th Run Thru History in the Vicksburg National Military Park begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Registration is from 5 until 8 tonight and from 7 until 8 Saturday morning at the Battlefield Inn. The fee is $27 for the 10K run or 5K walk, and $14 for the Blue/Gray 1-miler.