By Dave Morrison
Register-Herald Senior Editor
BECKLEY —
David Williams does it for a living. And the triathlete makes no bones about it: His sponsor expects results.
“As a matter-of-fact,” Williams said. “They’re quite demanding.”
Never mind the fact that he had been injured — a stress fracture in his femur — and just started competing again last week.
So his sponsor, Triangle Multi-Sport, had to be quite pleased with his win Saturday at the third annual Glade Springs/Charlie Williamson Memorial Triathlon.
Williams traversed the course — a 750-meter swim, a 12-mile bike race and an ending 5-K run — in 1:07.90.
And oh, by the way, Williams owns the company.
Williams won the Williamson Memorial last year after placing second the first year of the event. But he wasn’t sure what was in store Saturday, after being off for a year and after placing eighth in an Olympic Distance Triathlon last week in his first event back.
“You take a year off, you never know, but I felt I would do OK after getting pretty good results last week,” the Durham, N.C., native, who attended Fairmont State, said. “It was a beautiful course. Tough, but beautiful.”
Williams, 34, enjoys the race, being that it’s his wife Monette’s hometown (Beckley). The couple met at Fairmont, where they were on the Falcons’ swim team.
After giving grad school a shot — chemistry — he decided to start his own company. He now designs training programs for athletes and has clients in five different countries.
Williams has done several Ironman Triathlons, including Kona, Hawaii.
“It’s nice to get back out and compete,” Williams said. “Obviously, I came in with the goal being to win it and it feels good to be back competing and winning.”
Krystle Bailey, 20, was the overall women’s winner.
The Glenville track and cross country standout finished with a time of 1:29.57.
It was her first win at Glade. She finished second last year.
“I was trying,” Bailey said. “It was a tough course, but after finishing second last year I was hoping to win. But you never know who is going to show up.”
She said she got into the sport only after a coach at Glenville, while on a bike ride, said she should try one.
“The first time I did it, I used a mountain bike,” Bailey said. “Obviously, that didn’t turn out too well. I’ve won my age group before (at a triathlon in Morgantown) but I’ve never won overall before. So this one is special.”
The triathlon’s namesake, Charlie Williamson, was a staunch advocate for fitness. He took up running in the 1970s and took up triathlons after his son Charlie started competing.
His son, Charlie, competed and finished well and the family was also well represented.
Young Charlie’s son was in the race, on a relay team, as were his sister and a nephew. His daughter plans to do the event next year.
“I do other races where I care more about the time,” Williamson said. “I do this race because I love it. My dad was a doer, he wanted people to get off their butts and do something. It was a great day, great weather and it’s nice to see the number of competitors increasing. I think he would have liked that.”
Williamson saw the big picture early of a triathlon at Glade, and was on the first committee setting up the event when he was killed tragically while training.
“I think the committee has done a wonderful job,” said Williamson’s widow, Pat. “It’s something Charlie cared about deeply. I think he would be very pleased. It’s a family-type thing and something we all love.”
