As Cardinal Track Club's Four on the Fourth race directors Eric Paul and Dick Forbis groggily prepared for the four-mile race from McDougle Middle School through the streets of Carrboro, club co-founder and longtime friend to local running Bobby Biles was snoring away in bed, two time zones behind, and a seeming million miles away in Albuquerque.

"I got a nice long call from Bobby (in the afternoon)," Forbis said. "He definitely had been thinking about us, and wanted to know how things went. He said that he really missed being out here with us, but he did enjoy a good night's sleep on July 3 for the first time in 10 years."

Biles and his wife Rona Van Willigen, one-time co-owners of Fleet Feet Carrboro, moved west last spring with their kindergarten-aged daughter Mikele to take over the Albuquerque Fleet Feet outlet. While Biles spent his early July Fourth holiday wrestling with dreams, however, organizers in Carrboro wrestled with the logistics that made for a dream event.

"Yeah, I'm as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs," current Cardinal president Jon van Ark said.

"There were some of Bobby's past arrows and marks on the race course," race co-director Eric Paul said, "so there was some history there. All I could think is, 'Boy, I don't want to mess this up with Bobby being gone.'"

In the wake of Biles' departure, another local standout with moving plans played firecracker, and went out with a Fourth of July "bang."

Relocating to Memphis, Tenn., this coming week with her husband, Caroline Blatti decided to leave a lasting impression, placing first overall among women (24:16), with Joan Nesbit Mabe in second (24:45), and Kim Certain (25:04) rounding out the top three.

"Because I'm leaving, I wanted to have a really good race," Blatti said, "and Joan (Nesbit Mabe) told me before I started that this should be my swansong. It's my very last North Carolina race, so, I wanted to run hard, and I felt good. I love the course, and I love the people, so I was inspired ... and I'll be back."

"I'm glad she got to go out with a bang," Nesbit Mabe said, "but I'm secretly hoping she can meet us at Spokane (Wash.) for the Cross Country Club National Championships (in December) and run for the Carrboro Athletic Club. She doesn't love cross-country, but we'd love to reunite."

A 1996 10,000-meter Olympian, Nesbit Mabe recently has taken a turn for the track of late, instilling more speed into her regimen.

"I'm training for the 800 meters at the Godiva (Summer Series) meets," she said, "and this was a good chance to run the longest run I've run all week.

"I'm training for the 800 in order to learn about it as a coach, because I'd never run it. Now I'm very cognizant of the leg turnover and 'rig' setting in."

Kevin Crosby (20:27) crossed the line as the overall men's winner, with running partner and Cornell student Kyle Wolpert (20:44) finishing in second place and Harsha Thirumurthy (21:32) in third.

"It got warm toward the end," Crosby said of the steamy race conditions. "I was hoping it would stay cool, but then the sun came out."

With 8 a.m. race time temperatures in the mid-seventies, the humidity was more of a factor than heat.

"Yeah, the humidity was tough," Wolpert agreed. "Other than that it was all right."

The Cardinal Track Club is a Carrboro/Chapel Hill-based organization dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of running at all levels. The Four on the Fourth road race held this past Saturday was the first event in Cardinal's Tour de Carrboro three-race series, now in its fourth year. A Carrboro 10K (6.1-mile) race will be held on Oct. 4, and the popular Gallop and Gorge 8K (5-mile) run is held each year on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 27.

Though registration had lagged behind that of previous years early on, a turnout of nearly 450 runners easily eclipsed 2007's tally of 380.

That spells good news for the race series benefactors.

"This year, it's El Centro Latino, the Optimists' Club, the North Carolina Outreach Foundation and our new benefactor, Club Nova," van Ark noted.

The community-based charitable organizations provide volunteers to help Cardinal run races, and the club donates the proceeds from race applications to help them with their worthy causes. Last year the Cardinal Track Club was able to provide $4,000 to each of its community partners.

"I believe we had 13 volunteers from the Optimists' Club," first-time volunteer committee coordinator Martha Petty said. "They almost took over the course monitoring and manned the water stop. Club Nova had four or five volunteers out here, Carolina Outreach was here and El Centro had around eight volunteers out here."

But another 450 participants also put in a bit of legwork to make the event a success.

Behind the overall women's winners Blatti, Nesbit Mabe and Certain, the women's masters division winner was Kristin Villopoto (25:44), followed by Robyn Weaver (28:46), and Sonia Davis (28:54).

"I just started jogging again two months ago," international duathlon standout Villopoto said. "I raced for the first time last weekend, and my run's got a long way to go. It was just a bike-run (duathlon), and after I got off the bike, it was a 10K. The first two miles were fine, but after that I had no legs. I'm just thankful to be running again."

Among women runners, Julianna Schneider (41:38) captured the nine-and-under division, while Eliza Kohrman (36:53) bested Erin McGibbon (37:57) to win the 10-14 bracket. Among the 15-19s, it was Erin O'Connor (28:42) crossing the line before Ahna Weeks (29:05) and Christine Whitley (30:06).

First place among the 20-24s was Sarah Waterman (27:11), with Angelia Davis (28:59) earning second, and Abby Matson (30:24) placing third. Sarah Volk (25:29) struck gold in the 25-29 division, with Nicole Jordan (28:48) capturing silver and Claire Haslam (30:10) taking the bronze.

Among women aged 30-34, Mary Resseguie (26:22) stood atop the podium, with Janelle Renschler (26:32) just off the pace in second place, and Sara Larson (27:05) taking third.

Tina Weiler was tops in the women's 35-39 bracket (27:43), while Hollis Oberlies (27:58) finished in second ahead of Ilona Jaspers (30:25) in third.

K.K. Marvin's 29:00 was good enough for first among 40-44 women, while Jamie Dilweg's 29:57 earned second place and Jenny Clough's 30:45 earned third. Kathy Matera (29:25) was best among 45-49-year old women, with Margaret Harrington (30:32) in second and Kari Wilkinson (31:22) in third.

Among 50-54 females, Ann Brady's 30:00 earned the blue ribbon, Linda Anderson's 33:32 took second and Sally Ivins' 34:43 rounded out the top three places. Lena Hollmann (34:02) finished first in the 50-54 division, with Joan Boone (36:42) in second place and Nancy Lane (40:08) in third. Sheelagh Anderson (36:27) took the top prize among women 60-69, with Sharon Roggenbuck (38:18) in second place and Sarah Whitmore (38:41) in third.

Behind the men's top overall finishers Crosby, Wolpert and Thirumurthy, masters victors included perennial threat John Hinton (22:58), who finished ahead of Jim Smith (23:22) and Bernard Prabucki (23:43).

Among younger males, it was Blan Hodges (29:27) edging Sean Tobin (37:04) in the nine-and-under bracket, while Eli Rose (32:39) finished ahead of Nate Bolon (34:37) and Alex Werden (36:14) in the boys' 10-14 division.

Among the 15-19-year olds, it was Paul Noah (24:10) crossing the line ahead of Isaac Britt (25:24) and Ben Buck (25:26), and Trevor Scobey (28:45) bested Jim Kelly (31:44) and Tim Matson (32:33) to win the boys' 20-24 division.

James Pearce (21:48) was victorious among 25-29 men, with Quincy Allen (24:15) in second place, and Jovian Sackett (25:18) in third. Mike Tiano (24:26) edged Phil Ferrara (24:41) and Chris Bradshaw (26:01) to capture the men's 30-35 crown.

David Dunson (23:32) took the gold medal among men 35-39, with baby-stroller-pushing Liam O'Fallon (25:12) winning the silver, and Marc Desormeau (25:22) taking bronze. In the men's 40-44 division, Barton Bechard (25:29) took first place, with Brian Suvick (26:39) in second place, and David Drewry (26:50) in third.

Men's bracket champ among 45-49's Jeffrey Wilcox (24:56) finished ahead of Jeff Spencer (24:56) and Wayne McLeod (25:09), while Owen Astrachan (26:07) beat Rick Henson (26:14) and Wilson Vasco (27:27) to the line to win the men's 50-54 bracket.

Stephen Davis (29:02) captured the men's 55-59 division ahead of Don Sellers (30:03) and Rob Hill (32:24), while 60-69 men's champ Jim Hotelling's 28:06 placed him ahead of William Vann (30:11) and Richard Kohrman (30:13).

Bill Powers' 42:40 struck gold in the 70-and-over men's bracket, with Ole Holsti (53:52) taking silver among the silver set.

In addition to those crossing the finish ahead of their respective competitors, race organizers also felt like winners on Friday.

"I feel way more involved in it and in a different capacity," new Fleet Feet Carrboro owner Amanda Bushman said, "and that's fine when it goes so smoothly, and everyone's happy. It was just a wonderful race, and we all worked together to make it even better than it's been."

Organizers can now take one last tip from Bobby Biles and get some sleep, content in the knowledge that the first race of a new era for the Cardinal Track Club went off like a Midsummer Day's Dream.