LEWISTON — A chance to make competitive history for the sake of community history brought nearly 150 runners and cyclists together Sunday morning for the Twin Cities’ first ever duathlon, a challenging contest over L-A streets.

Both participants and organizers declared LADU a resounding success. The weather was moderate, and racers said they were delighted with the course.

Kurt Perham of Brunswick, who was men’s overall winner, said, “Safety is huge” in such contests, and he credited organizers and the police and public works departments of both Auburn and Lewiston with doing a great job.

His winning time for covering the 3-mile run, 14-mile bike race and a concluding 3-mile run was one hour, 10 minutes and 20.9 seconds.

Ashley Morgan of Portland took first place overall among women with a time of one hour, 21 minutes and 27.5 seconds.

When Morgan arrived Sunday morning, it seemed she might not even compete. She told an official she had left the front wheel of her bicycle in Portland, and the official asked the field of contestants if any of them had a spare they could lend to Morgan. A man stepped forward with a loaner wheel, and Morgan rode it to victory.

Many others who took part in the race expressed praise for the planning. Perham said he especially liked the cities’ hills along the course. He said he checked the route out Saturday and decided to put a different gear assembly on his bike to better attack those challenges.

Perham has raced for more than 20 years, including overseas events, and he said LADU was excellent for a first-time competition.

“The urban nature of it was awesome,” Perham said. He and other participants voiced appreciation for the race’s historic city theme, which purposely took runners and riders through streets lined with old mills and homes from L-A’s days as a textile and shoemaking empire.

Each racer was given a booklet prepared by Museum L-A that highlighted historic neighborhoods and natural resources along the race’s three routes.

Rachel Desgrosseilliers, executive director of Museum L-A, said, “This event, which we called ‘LADU: A Duathlon of Historic Proportions,’ certainly was a big undertaking, and it was important because it furthers our mission of a museum without walls … taking the history into the community.”

She said she hopes Museum L-A can move forward with plans for a Heritage Festival in which the cities’ ethnic groups can learn from each other.

Peg Rearick of Hebron was the very first registrant for LADU. She is a breast cancer survivor who competed in races before the cancer sidelined her. She said she is getting back to competitive form and believes strongly in the benefits of running and biking in a duathlon. (A triathlon is similar, but includes a swimming component.)

Kate Lewis of South Portland was smiling and triumphant as she crossed the finish line. It was in last place, but she said it was her very first race of any kind.

“I made peace with myself very early that I would probably finish last,” she said.

“It was a beautiful course. It took me into parts of Lewiston that I had never seen before,” Lewis said.

Kevin Marshall of Auburn finished 30th overall and second in his age group (35-39). He was at the finish line later to watch his wife, Wanda, come up the red carpet and under the electronic clock at the finish line. He said he is a member of the Maine Track Club and he worked on several aspects of LADU.

State-of-the-art electronic timing provided by Tri-Maine Productions produced split-second results for competitors, which also included a number of local relay teams.

Winners in each five-year age group inscribed their names in soft “green” bricks provided by Morin Brick Co. of Auburn. The bricks will be fired to produce normal brick color and hardness, and then will be used by Museum L-A to memorialize the first LADU at the Camden Yarns Mill, future home of the museum.

Each winner inscribed two bricks, one of which will be returned to them as a keepsake.

A “Textile Trot” for youngsters 10 and younger kicked off the event at Simard-Payne Police Memorial Park at 7:45 a.m. Numerous parents and grandparents ran with the little racers on a park course adjacent to the Camden Yarns Mill site. A family-friendly race-expo and awards ceremony followed the “Textile Trot.”

Jennifer Dube-Works, Museum L-A’s development director, said, “The goal of the race was to connect generations and to showcase what a rich heritage we have here.“

Contestants came from as far as Minnesota, she said, and others came from New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and all over Maine.

Click here to see more photos from the LADU