Billy Bohlke, the top long-distance runner in the Virgin Islands, is preparing for the CAC Games marathon, and he uses short races to build speed. In The 27th Memorial Day 2-mile road race, Seymour Walter, the top V.I. high school middle-distance runner, was stride-for-stride with Bohlke near the one-mile mark (Bohlke 4:20, Walter 4:22) and looking quite relaxed, he was challenged through the second mile to match the endurance and experience of Bohlke, who won the race with a time of 9:07. Bohlke has won the race the last four out of five years. Walter, the defending champ, was second in 9:47; Ian Cuffy was third in 10:36; Matt Halk was fourth in 11:55; George Willock was fifth in 13:22; Mike Klein, winner of the race in 2003, was sixth in 14:08, his best time in the race was in 2002 with an 11:18; and Casey Bergstrom was seventh in 14:57.
