Race Has Fans Howling 300 Run, Bike, Sweat For 40 Kilometers To Encouragement Of Spectators In The Post Falls Biathlon
To Anush, this was a European soccer match. A Canadian hockey game. Any sport in Chicago.
It was chance to be loud and drool.
Unlike your typical Sunday biathlon spectator, Anush wasn’t content to offer the token “good job.” No, he howled, yammered and even tried to jump onto the course in support of his champion.
It was all Cherese McCoy could do to keep her rare Louisiana catahoula leopard dog - which looked like a cross between a Rottweiler and a labrador - from hauling her into the Post Falls Biathlon behind him.
“That’s his papa,” McCoy explained as her husband, Michael, sprinted past. “He’s our cheering squad. He’s louder than I am.”
About 300 people competed in the annual Post Falls hoopla - a 30 kilometer bike race sandwiched between 5 kilometer runs. On a morning as warm as Sunday, they all could have used fans like Anush. No one else could quite compete with the likes of a catahoula leopard dog, but they gave it their best shot.
“Keep goin’! You’re about done!” someone yelled.
“Someone stole my shoes!” came the forlorn reply.
It had all the trappings of Bloomsday, only with fewer folks. Runners soaked themselves with water. Paper cups were flattened into the pavement by Nikes. And after the race, everyone got to dine on free eats.
Being a biathlon, though, a few things were immediately different from a more traditional run. Namely, those funky bikes with the black rear wheels going “lubba-lubba, lubba-lubba” as they passed.
Those switches from run to bike to run again weren’t easy, judging by the bouncy Neil Armstrong steps the biathletes took when they hopped from bikes to running shoes. But by the end, it looked worth it. Even the salt-faced and sweaty folks wore big smiles.
“Sandwiches for you down there!” hollered a woman at the Falls Park finish line. “Massages in the big tent!”
Troy Hocking hadn’t run in 10 years, back when he raced in high school. “I can’t believe I did it!” he gasped, his two little sons grabbing him around the neck.
Hocking said he did the Post Falls event at the urging of a friend, Mark Monroe.
Monroe just shrugged.”It wasn’t that hard to convince him.”
Not far off, a man and woman finished nearly together, stopped, then started laughing.
“She beat me,” George Johnson said.
D.J. Boughton sure helped his finish, though.
“I pushed him,” she said. “He passed me, then started walking. I said, ‘That’s not how it’s gonna be.”’
As for Anush, well, his dad did OK. Michael McCoy finished second.
“He has an incredible howl,” McCoy said, giving his biggest fan a pat on the head. “He’s my training partner and he gets mad if I don’t take him with me.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo
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