Bo Run: A trail to remember

Several hundred feet trekked the trails of H. Boyd Lee Park on Saturday, and there were many reasons why they did so. Every one of those reasons tracks back to one person — Bo Thompson.

If not for Thompson, there's a good chance the 3.1-mile course wouldn't exist at the park. If not for Thompson's death in a car accident in 2005, there wouldn't be a Bo Run every autumn. Since Thompson didn't get to finish the life he started in 1989, his legacy lives on in the cross country race that pulls runners from all over the state to the same trails in eastern North Carolina every year.

What started as a high school invitational has grown into a community event. In this fourth installment of the Bo Run, the community race began the day and was followed by five high school races.

In addition to raising the funds needed for course upkeep, the event offered its runners the chance to reflect on a day when winning wasn't the most important thing.

“Generally, I was remembering Bo, because that's what this day is all about,” said Josh Biddlecome, who turned in the fastest time (16 minutes, 50.49 seconds) of the local runners. “Our coach, Mr. (Coleman) Bailey, he taught Bo, and Bo was one of his best runners when he was running cross country. It means a lot to everyone on the team that we ran for him and (had) such a strong showing.”

The course that Thompson envisioned back in '05 was a busy one throughout the six races. Runners from 49 different schools competed in the high school races on a day that was just hot enough to get a good sweat going over 3.1 miles.

When they weren't competing, the runners split time between cooling in the shade of tents and cheering on their teammates. When teammates weren't in sight, onlookers usually urged runners from other schools.

It's just something about the course named after Thompson, Bailey said, that causes people to come together.

“We have a home course that's dedicated to a D.H. Conley athlete that three of the biggest rivals in Pitt County use, and we're out here working together on it,” he said. “I don't think you would see that in any other sport. I think that Bo has had a lot ... to kind of bring forward that relationship between South Central, (J.H.) Rose and D.H. Conley.”

As Saturday's races started wrapping up and the results were posted, even more excitement was added to the day. Northern Nash's Zack Brantley shattered the course record, posting a time of 16:06.97 in the boys championship race.

“That's actually what my goal was going into it,” said Brantley, who bested the previous course record set by his friend Mark Sullivan. Brantley shaved roughly 16 seconds off the previous record.

Also from Northern Nash, Hilary McKenny won the girls championship race with a time of 20:32.67.

Esther Fisher finished fourth out of J.H. Rose with a time of 21:47.83 and was the top runner from the Pitt County schools.

In the team events, D.H. Conley led the way, finishing third and fourth in the boys' and girls' races, respectively. South Central had a strong showing in the girls' race, coming in fifth.

The North Pitt boys finished in ninth.

Contact John Swartz at jswartz@coxnc.com or (252) 329-9592.