Sept. 20, 2005 – The V.I. Track and Field Federation reported that long distance runner Billy Bohlke took first place in the Air Force Half-Marathon at Wright Paterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday with a time of 1 hour 11 minutes and 47 seconds.
The time puts him at the top of V.I. National Team runners and qualifies him for the Central American and Caribbean Championships next summer.
Bohlke peaked as a middle distance runner as a walk-on at Louisiana State University and became the top miler on the NCAA Division I powerhouse track team.
After college and on the advice of the Federation, he moved up to the longer distances and ran 2:32 in his first marathon and taking first place in the Blue Angel Marathon two years ago.
Bohlke has cut back on his training mileage as he is currently in flight school in the Air Force and flying C-130 aircraft. The federation feels that the 1:11 (5:29 per mile pace, there were 961 runners in the race) is an excellent time and puts him on target for a sub-2:20 marathon.
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