Pensacola, Florida 2/9/04--The Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation reported today that Billy Bohlke of St. Croix, took everyone by surprise and won the Pensacola News Journal Double Bridge Run in Pensacola, Florida this past weekend.  The LSU grad is known as a miler and has recently started training for longer distances in hope of gaining a birth on the V.I. Olympic Team for Athens.  He broke away from Matt Dobson, the winner of the Disneyworld Marathon, to win the seventh annual 15k (9.3 miles) race on Saturday.  His time was 48 minutes 6 seconds, a V.I. national record. At the six-mile mark of the race he came upon the McGuire’s Irish Pub Bagpipe Band, “I gave out a loud rock ‘n roll holler” then I began to pull away”, he said. “It gave me the biggest burst of energy”, Bohlke, said of the band.  “That was great.  That made me feel so good inside.” A race record of 2,305 runners competed in the event.  "I had no idea who he was," said Dobson, who finished in 48:41. "We talked a little bit the first mile. I knew he was running strong, and he wasn't going to slow down. He told me he had been training for it, so I said go for it. I just tagged along." 

Billy is in the Air Force training to become a pilot and is the son of Tuddy and Bill Bohlke of St. Croix.