WindMark Beach Duathlon draws post-Thanksgiving crowd

Organizers of the WindMark Beach Fun Duathlon didn’t expect the turnout for their race on Saturday to be quite so high.

But as 60 or-so racers lined up on the beach to tackle the two mile running and four mile biking courses, they found that they had nearly doubled their fundraising goals for the event.

“I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think we got close to $3,500,” said one of the event’s organizers David Jacoby, a former EMS worker. “I know we had 63 entrants. We were thinking it would be more around 20, but it seems we nailed it.”

The money was spent to purchase an AED device for the community, which Jacoby said could prove to save valuable time in an emergency situation.

“We’re trying to do some more stuff to get AEDs throughout the county,” he said. “EMS is great, but they are limited with resources and stuff.”

“I think it’s a good cause, and hopefully we’ll never have to use it. That’s the biggest goal.”