By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
For a short while in late April and Early May, it appeared that the Mightymite Triathlon might fall short of its 21st birthday.
When Mightymite organizers were told they would not be able to use Village Creek State Park's Lake Dunn as the starting point for the race, the event almost drowned.
Village Creek was under-going some renovation work in the area where the race has traditionally began and race organizers were told they would have to find another starting point.
That sent the Mightymite registration process into a tailspin. After all, the Mightymite has always been a triathlon -- swimming, biking and running -- and anything less than that just wasn't as appealing to the some 300 triathletes who run the event each year, especially now that it is a sanctioned race.
The thought of a sanctioned duathlon was not appealing to Mightymite organizers in the least.
Eventually, both sides worked out a suitable arrangement and the race was back to its roots at Lake Dunn.
The 21st Mightymite will stay the annual course, winding its way from Lake Dunn, past East Arkansas Community College and into Sam Smith Stadium Saturday morning, beginning at 8 a.m.
As of early Friday, the list of entrants was inching closer to the 300 mark, which is where organizers wanted to be.
In its prime, the Mightymite has drawn as many as 500 runners. With the explosion of several triathlons throughout the midsouth, Mightymite continues to draw a large field, but the numbers has declined somewhat.
However, Mightymite race coordinator Andrew Holliday said they should have close to 325 registered by the time the race starts Saturday morning.
"The uncertainty of being able to use Lake Dunn slowed the registration process early-on," Holliday said. "But in the past two weeks, that situation has been corrected and we have been getting about 20 registrations each day. So, we are on track."
The 16.4 mile Mightymite officially became a USAT-sanctioned event last year.
USA Triathlon is the national governing body for the multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon in the United States. USA Triathlon is a member federation of the U. S. Olympic Committee and the International Triathlon Union.
Between 2000 and 2002, the number of sanctioned events increased by 20 percent, with more than 850 sanctioned events last year.
The Mightymite Triathlon, which had its beginning in 1984, is one of just a handfull of triathlons to reach the 20-year mark.
Memphis In May recently celebrated it 21st running. The Mightymite turned 20 in July 2003.
Wyndell Robertson is the third-year race director for the Mightymite.
During the past 20 runnings of the Mightymite, there have been 14 different male winners and 14 different women winners. Frank Rehnelt is the only triathlete to win the Mightymite four times. Chip Cooper has won the men's title three times while Victor Perini has two Mightymite men's titles.
Perini, who will run Saturday, holds the course record (54 minutes, 34 seconds) set in 1994.
Last year's race produced co-overall men's winners for the first time ever when Rehan and Imran Mahmood, twin brothers from Memphis, won the race.
But the early men's favorite on Saturday appears to be Barry Knight, who won the race in 2002, just ahead of Perini. Donny Forsyth, of Memphis finished just behin the Mahmood twins a year ago and was third behind Knight and Perini in 2002.
Kirsten Winkler set a new women's course record last year (1:05.30) on her way to winning the overall women's title.
As of Friday, Winkler was not among the registered triathletes for Saturday's race but late registration will be held tonight.
Five different women have won the women's title twice -- Elaine Alrutz (1985-86); Ginger Bryant(1987-88); Lucia Colbert (1994 & 97); M.C. Jermann (1996 & 99) and Lesley Brainard (2001-02).
Brainard is back this year and is fresh off a victory in the Dragonfly Triathlon in May. Brainard is considered to be the favored female runner this time around.
Returning to the Mightymite field once again is Memphis' John Christman, who at 53, only runs the Mightymite.
Arkansas has produced nine winners in 19 years, five women and four men. Other winners hail from Kentucky, Oklahoma, Missouri, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Hawaii.
The three-part course (swim, bike, run) will be the same as it has been for the past several years as the triathletes begin the race by swimming 1/3 of a mile across Lake Dunn at Village Creek State Park.
The second stage is a 13-mile bike ride along Crowley's Ridge Road which leads to the final stage a three-mile sprint from East Arkansas Community College to the Forrest City High School.
The inaugural Mightymite, run in 1984, drew 359 runners from six states.
Over the years, the race has drawn as many as 500 triathletes. Approximately 300 are expected for Saturday's race.
The race begins promptly at 8 a.m. as the triathletes enter Lake Dunn in waves.
JONESBORO -- Jonesboro Coca-Cola ended its first Zone 2 AA American Legion district tournament game with a exclamation mark in a convincing win over Newport Thursday at Raider Field.
Following a loss to Newport earlier in the year, Jonesboro (19-10) made short work of its district opposition when it counted most. The game ended on a two-run home run by Daniel Mullis in the fifth inning to put the run rule in effect for the 13-2 victory.
In other first-round district tournament games played Thursday, Wynne topped Forrest City 5-2.
Jonesboro's 13-run offensive outburst came against five Newport pitchers.
In addition to its red-hot bats, Jonesboro pitcher Ryan Belcher kept the game out of reach with a solid outing.
Belcher pitched a complete game, giving up six hits, two runs and just one extra-base hit. In the third inning, Belcher needed just four pitches to retire the side.
Jonesboro mounted six runs in the bottom of the third, including a two-run home run blasted to left-center by Murray Watts and a two-run double by Ryan Blackburn. Blackburn finished 2-for-2 with two doubles and four RBIs.
Belcher was tested by Newport several times, but remained strong. He escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the first inning and a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fourth, allowing no runs in either frame.
Belcher took a 2-0 loss earlier in the year to Newport, but run support was the difference-maker Thursday.
Jonesboro followed the big third inning with three more runs in the fourth, including an RBI single by Hunter Smith.
In a game that featured one Hunter Smith on each team, Newport's Smith scored in the top of the fifth to bring Newport within eight, 10-2. But its late run proved to be too little, too late.
Newport made some costly errors in the field late in the game, including an errant pickoff throw in the fifth inning at second that allowed Cody Pace to score. After a single by Watts, Mullis' home run to left field left little doubt when it came off the bat that the game would end early.
With the win, Jonesboro earns a matchup with top-seeded Trumann today at 12:30 p.m.
Trumann has won two of the three meetings of the teams this season.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Gym 2000 ended the regular adult men's softball season with a win and the outright league title Thursday night.
Gym finishes the year at 12-2 after taking a season-ending win over Kerby's at the Sports Complex.
The loss left Kerby's tied in the final league standings with Middle Busters, but Kerby's finishes second based on regular-season head-to-head competition.
Middle Busters was the only league team to defeat Gym -- twice -- but couldn't get past Kerby's in two season matchups.
Kerby's downed Middle Busters twice but fell against Wal-Mart and Head Hunters.
Both Kerby's and Middle Busters finish at 10-4. Middle Busters was awarded the league's third-place trophy.
Wal-Mart, which won three of their final four games, inclduing Thursday's win over Middle Busters, finished at 7-7 to take fourth place leaving A&M Connection and the Head Hunters in a tie for fifth at 6-8.
Head Hunters and A&M split their two season matchups with Head Hunters taking Thursday's final 13-3.
Laws Contracting defeated Food Giant 15-6 Thursday to finish sixth at 3-11 while Food Giant ended the year at 1-13.
Laws jumped out to a quick lead after scoring eight runs in the top of the first inning and added a big third inning in the win.
Middle Busters and A&M Connection, the subject of a double forfeit back on June 7, were each given a loss Thursday night.
Six of the Forrest City men's league teams are entered into the men's district tournament mix, which will be played Saturday at the Sports Complex.
The adult women's district tournament, which has three Forrest City teams in the seven-team double-elimination bracket, will also be played Saturday.
Winning teams and the top three next best finishers have the chance to advance to several state tournaments, which begin later this month across the state.
Both the men and women open play Saturday at 8:30 a.m.