For Christmas, a heartwarming story of love and sacrifice from a University of Richmond basketball player. It is definitely worth the read.

Moments that find this little family sharing the same space — moments such as today, Christmas, the last day of the Spiders’ six-day holiday break — are fulfilling beyond description. Goring, the younger sister of Washington Mystics post player Gillian Goring, was asked to describe the emotions that accompany a reunion with her son following a lengthy separation.

“I can’t,” she said. “I’m not sure words can explain something like that. I don’t know — maybe some people can put it into words. But I know I can’t.”

But soon thereafter, she did. Goring’s eyes and face seemed illuminated by a glow from within as she recalled a recent visit from Jabari.

“I picked him up and held him and I couldn’t stop smiling,” she said. “I held him for a long time . . . a long time. I didn’t want to let go. Finally my mother said, ‘You know, it’s OK if you want to put him down. He’s probably ready to play.’ And I said, ‘Not a chance. I’m going to hold him as long as he’ll let me.’”

As a triathlete myself, I guess I have a more personal interest and excitement in announcing that Richmond will host the 2008 National Duathlon Festival. This downtown Richmond hosted the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships in October, but this newly announce April event will bring even more athletes from all parts of the country to our beautiful city.
These are athletes who will come and spend lots of money here and then go home and tell their friends what a great place Richmond is. It is just the sort of thing we need. One of the best parts of all is that in addition to the regular National Championships, there will also be Junior National Championships (think kids and their families) and Duathlon Off-Road Championships showcasing our beautiful and unique urban off road bike and run trails. The festival will also occur here for 2009 and 2010. Richmond really has an oportunity to make a huge impression on these athletes and showcase what a great city we are.

Online registration for the 2008 National Duathlon Festival is now open at www.duathlonnationals.com

Pros, age groups, youth/junior, age group participants will all be running and biking along much of the same course that made the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships such a rousing success. The National Duathlon Festival also marks the first time that the USAT Duathlon National Championships and the Off-Road Duathlon Championships will be combined on the same weekend.

The same start, finish and transition area as the World Championships will be used and a closed bike course very similar to the World Championship course will be challenging and technical but easy enough for the citizens races. The downtown Richmond location allows for a proven off-road duathlon location, having hosted the past eight XTERRA East Coast Championships at this site. The location is also easy walking distance from downtown hotels, restaurants and parking.

The schedule (and event distances) for the National Duathlon Festival are as follows:
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Off-Road Duathlon Championships (10k run, 30k bike, 5k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Junior Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Off-Road Youth Race (1k run, 4k bike, 1k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
USAT Duathlon National Championships (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run)
USAT Duathlon Junior National Championships (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
USAT Duathlon Youth National Championships (1k run, 5k bike, 1k run)
Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
Sports Backers is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization founded in October 1991 to build a more vibrant community through sports. The mission of the organization is to maximize the community benefits of sports tourism in the region by:
Creating, attracting and improving significant sporting events,
Serving as a resource in the development and utilization of sports facilities and
Aiding area youth through sports outreach programs.
These activities and programs strengthen the economy, provide health benefits to participants and make the region a more desirable place to live.

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University of Richmond has a great women’s swimming program. I know firsthand. From 2002-2004, I swim for their head coach, Matt Kredich, as part of the Triathlonmoms team his wife ran. Since then, the pool has been revamped and the coaches have changed, but the heart of the program is the same.
The Bridgeton (N.J.) News reports this week that they’ve gained another great swimmer, Jill Smaniotto.

“They have a girl that going in as freshman swam 57 (seconds) in the 100 fly and now as a junior she is doing 53 (seconds),” she said. “In a year and a half she dropped four seconds. Their style of training is just phenomenal.”

That style features a more personal approach that focuses on what each swimmer’s heart rate should be at different intervals. It is a new, more scientific, approach that Smaniotto said is starting to get notice from other schools.

At the annual archrival game between St. Christopher’s & Collegiate Schools last Saturday, a record-breaking total of 10,274 pounds of food was raised for the Central Virginia Food Bank.

Together with the help of St. Catherine’s School, the schools’ joint venture is current the number one giver for non-corporations this year. The closest competitor was a government agency at 6.594 pounds. The schools tripled the number of pounds ever brought in by a school.

A Food Bank representative reported the organization as being “ecstatic.” It took 2 trucks to get all of the food to the warehouse.

Congrats on your success, St. C and Collegiate!!

St. Christopher’s and the Collegiate School square off tomorrow at St. Christopher’s football field tomorrow (Saturday, November 3rd) for the popular long-standing game between the two rivals.

In addition, the two schools are working together to raise food for the Central Virginia Foodback. Spectators are encouraged to bring canned items to fill the 220 brown paper bags at the game.

“We just thought this would be a good cause and something we could easily collaborate on,” said Pierre Molster, president of St. Christopher’s Student Council.

“We do a lot of canned-food drives at Collegiate, but we thought this would be a good way to bring a lot more cans in,” said Melissa Trask, co-leader of the Collegiate Community Council.

The Times-Dispatch reports:

Fans from both private schools will pile canned goods into containers placed in front of the bleachers. Each school was supplied with 500 commemorative brown paper bags, donated by the Bank of Goochland, with the fleur-de-lis and paw print logos of the Saints and the Cougars.

Here’s the latest University of Richmond Spiders Sports update from Bob Black:

Gameday Central: #18 Richmond vs. Rhode Island
No. 18 Richmond is back in the friendly confines of UR Stadium Saturday versus Rhode Island where it is 2-0 this season and averaging 43.5 points per game. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET. It’s Ukrop’s 2-for-1 Day! Use your UVC Card of First Market Bank MarketShare Card and receive two tickets for the price of one!

Men’s Soccer Heads To Philly To Play Temple And Saint Joseph’s
The men’s soccer team will look to get back on track when the Spiders head to Philadelphia this weekend to take on Temple Friday and Saint Joseph’s Sunday.

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