Scott Downard, 32, of Norman, Okla., entered the history books, Sat., April 4 in Oklahoma City, becoming the men’s winner of the first Double 15K ever held in the Sooner State!

Downard, who is a 31-minute 10K runner, led from gun to finish in both stages of this unique race with a halftime, posting an aggregate time of 49:26 as he ran the 10K in 33:07 and the 5K in 16:19.

In addition to winning the race, Downard also took home the Double Victory Cup for best age-graded performance as his aggregate time translated to an 83.48 score.

The race was run on out-and-back courses on the east side of scenic Lake Hefner, which is a huge reservoir in the northwestern section of Oklahoma City and a popular venue for road races in that city.

Jeff Beck, 32, of Oklahoma City finished second in the men’s Double 15 as he ran 34:13 in the 10K and 17:14 in the 5K for an aggregate time of 51:27.

A well-known figure in the local running community, Jeff works at the Red Coyote Running Shoe Store in Oklahoma City. The store, which is owned by Jeff’s brother, was voted one of the top three running shoe stores in the country by Running USA, and it  served, appropriately, as the official running shoe store for Saturday’s Double.

The third place finisher in the Double 15K was Justin Kracht, 35, of Oklahoma City, who posted an aggregate time of 1:00:20 (40:47/19:33).

The women’s winner was Laura Webb, 38, of Oklahoma City, in a combined time of 1:07:09 as she ran 45:04 for the 10K and 22:05 for the 5K.

Sara Cook, 39, also of Oklahoma City, finished second in 1:14:11 (50:16/23:55), and Tami Hines, 30, of Moore. Okla., was third in 1:18:48 (52:44/26:04). 

There was one world best performance in the race. Lucy Hardy and her family drove four hours from their home in Lawrence, Kan., to Oklahoma City after midnight Friday night, and in the race that morning she set a world record in the Double 15K for a 10-year old, posting an aggregate time of 1:24:48 (58:47/26:01)! Lucy, who’s Native American, had actually run the Double faster at a younger age, but on that occasion she and her family didn’t have to drive 300 miles through the night just to get to the race.

A Double 8K (5K + 3K) was also on program at Saturday’s Oklahoma City Double Racing® Festival.

Masters runner Chad Mills, 41, of Oklahoma City was the men’s winner in an aggregate time of 39:04. Two other Oklahoma City runners, Thomas Gilchrist, 27, and Beau Waldrop, 33, rounded out the top three as they posted aggregate times of 43:40 and 47:36 respectively.

Jenae Tindell, 36, of Norman, Okla., was the women’s winner in a combined time of 46:20. Cilony Alejandro, 31, of Oklahoma City edged Janet Richard, who’s 58 and from Edmond, Okla., for second,  50:21 to 50:34 on aggregate time.

The Oklahoma City Double Racing® Festival was produced by Jerald Kracht and his company JK Enterprises, which will be staging several Double Racing® competitions this year throughout mid-America – Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

After the historic Oklahoma City Double on Saturday, Kracht, who’s 55, a runner himself (“but not a very good one”) and lives with his wife Joyce in north-central Kansas only a mile from the Nebraska state line, said, “The course here is one of the most scenic lakeside running courses anywhere. The runners really enjoyed the Double, they spoke very highly of it, and we had such tremendous feedback from everyone, we’re optimistic this competition will really grow in popularity here.”

Saturday’s race was held under rather chilly conditions – it was 39 degrees at the start of the opening 10K leg of the Double 15K, 45 degrees at the start of the concluding 5K leg.

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