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Randy Ballew was born and raised in Athens and never found his way out of Clarke County except to hike and race. He graduated from Athens High where he was on the cross country and track teams. Randy and his brother trained by running the five mile distance between school and their home. After graduation, the gears in Randy begin to turn as he found employment at local business Tiger Auto Parts where he remained for ten years.
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Randy Dirt BikingRandy’s spare time begin to be filled with racing his Yamaha dirt bike. His fondness for the sport led to an opportunity to join Cycle World in Athens where he worked for three years. His ardor for the sport declined as the spills increased and Randy found the ground harder when hit as he matured. Ten years later his mechanical aptitude was rewarded with the opportunity to join Heyward Allen Nissan/Toyota, one of the oldest and leading new car dealership in the Athens area. Randy remained as an automotive technician at the dealership for eighteen years. He was lured away by Phil Hughes Honda in Athens where he has worked for the past twelve years. These stints total thirty years in the automotive service market in Athens and he is still counting as Randy is still employed full time including working every other Saturday. Randy services Hondas from 1975 to the latest models. His skill is evident in that he can service the older models whereas the newer technicians are limited in experience to computer analysis of new vehicles.
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Randy, Sherri, Kelsie and KaylaRandy’s long marriage to Sherri has produced a running family with two daughters. Kayla, age twenty two, is an IT student at Athens Tech and twelve year old middle school student Kelsie. All four can be found running in the same race every other weekend when Randy is free to run. All four are highly ranked in Black Bag Race Series and Run & See Georgia standings. Randy lived near the late Will Chamberlin and often wondered where Will was every weekend. He found out when Kayla discovered Classic Race Services. The family had been hiking on weekends until they got lost one time near Toccoa Falls. Randy began to race as it was difficult to get lost even if you are close to being the leader. His first competitive race was the 2012 Winder Summer’s End 5K. Since then he has run with the family in multiple races every other weekend.
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Randy Running HardRandy advised that he “runs as hard as he can” every race because he can participate only every other weekend. He is a remarkable 22:19 5K finisher in the competitive men’s age 60-64 group. He only runs 5K races; with his best time being 21:40. Randy ran the Hot Chocolate 5K in Atlanta in January finishing 198th out of 11,624 participants. His favorite Black Bag Race Series races are the Watkinsville Scarecrow 5K and the Madison Christmas Rush 5K. Recently slowed by an elbow infection and later an infected dog bite (the bite was not from anyone else on the course), he is returning to form. Randy can often be found waiting in front of the finish chute to greet Sherri and his daughters as they finish.
Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Look for the profile on Melinda Black and on Clarkesville bearded wonder Jerry Cunningham.