Local trio compete in duathlon, triathlon

Published 12:06 pm Tuesday, August 24, 2010

While waiting for Nathan Davis to show up for a workout at the Vicksburg Military Park, a couple of his training partners made small talk and joked about their friend’s habit of showing up late.

Davis cruised up on his bicycle 20 minutes or so after the workout was supposed to start, then watched them ride off as he made some last-minute adjustments. It didn’t take long for Davis to catch up.

When you’re one of the fastest in the world, it never does.

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Davis, a 24-year-old Vicksburg resident, will leave this week for Edinburgh, Scotland, where he’ll compete in the International Triathlon Union’s World Championships on Sept. 4. The event features a 10-kilometer run followed by a 40-kilometer bike ride, then another 5K run.

Davis is one of six Americans competing in the men’s 20-24 age group in Scotland. A total of 35 people from 10 countries will participate in the age group, which is the sport’s highest level of competition.

Davis shrugged off his status as a world class athlete, noting that his age group consists of amateurs. Even so, reaching this level was a huge honor.

“I try not to get a big head about it. We’re amateurs. On the pro level, I don’t know how well I’d do. But it’s still a pretty cool feeling,” he said. “If I can get top 10 in my age group at Worlds, that’s realistic. If I can be in the top 25 in the world, that would be a pretty sweet thing to say.”

Davis qualified for the World Championships by finishing 17th in his age group at the Duathlon National Championship in Richmond, Va., in April. He almost didn’t make it.

Virtually assured of qualifying — the top 18 in each age group earned a spot at Worlds — Davis was cruising along in the top 5 during the bike portion of the race when he got a flat rear tire. He had no spare, no repair kit and almost no hope as seconds melted away into minutes.

Finally, someone else’s bad luck turned into Davis’ good luck. Another racer blew out his front tire and pulled up next to Davis. The two had never met before, but quickly worked out a deal. The stranger had a repair kit and could patch up both tires. To save time, however, he offered to swap wheels — Davis’ flat tire for his good one.

They quickly made the exchange, Davis got back on his way and made up enough ground on the bike and during the final 5K run to sneak into the next-to-last qualifying spot.

“I was ecstatic. That was the entire point of going up there,” Davis said of qualifying. “I thought I had a good shot. At one point my entire dream was shattered and 10 minutes later I made it. It was really cool.”

Davis’ rise up the duathlon ranks has been meteoric since he got into the sport less than a year ago.

He ran track and cross country at Louisiana Tech, won Vicksburg’s Chill in the Hills and Run Thru History road races earlier this year and is a regular on the state’s running circuit. After meeting up with a group of local triathletes who call themselves “The Picnic Boys,” he tried a few small triathlons — and failed miserably.

“The swimming is so much more difficult than cycling. One of our group is Matthew Mixon, who coaches the Vicksburg Swim Association team. I was training with him and his team and I got smoked by girls. Twelve-year-old girls,” Davis said with a laugh.

Davis fared a lot better on the bike and found that duathlons, which cut out the swimming, suited him much better. He’s done three duathlons since he started training and been progressively better in each one.

“For some reason, I picked up biking extremely fast. It was a lot like running,” he said.

Davis hasn’t given up on attempting a triathlon. Two of his “Picnic Boys” training partners, Dustin Blount and Brannan Southerland, will compete in their first Ironman triathlon — a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a full 26.2-mile marathon — this weekend in Louisville, Ky. Davis, who has never run a marathon despite his background in distance running, said he had a healthy respect for what Blount and Southerland are attempting.

“They’ve done stuff that I haven’t even come close to,” Davis said. “They’ve run a marathon. They’ve done a half-triathlon.”

Blount and Southerland began training for their Ironman event in the spring. The race is the culmination of 20 weeks of training, with as much as 22 hours a week spent in the pool, on the road or on foot. Some weeks ended with smaller triathlons that were used for training.

Blount, the program director of the Vicksburg YMCA, said his goal isn’t to place among the top finishers. It was simply to cross the line in one piece.

“It’s really trying to find yourself,” Blount said. “Around mile 18 of the marathon we’re going to hit a deep, dark place. It’s a life-changing event.”

While Blount and Southerland are tackling the roads of Louisville, Davis will be preparing for his race.

“We’re sending a Picnic Boys shirt with him,” Blount said. “He’s one of us. Chasing Nathan and Joe (Giambrone, another training partner) on the bicycles has made all of us faster.”