Midway through Saturday’s Chill in the Hills 10K run, Tom Lilleyman rounded a corner, headed up a hill and started jogging backward as he waved to some onlookers half a block away.
With no competition in sight, he might have been able to run the rest of the race that way and still won.
Lilleyman, a 35-year-old Vicksburg resident by way of England, crushed the field to win his first Chill in the Hills overall title with a time of 39 minutes, 46 seconds. That was 2 ½ minutes ahead of Vicksburg’s Chandler Roesch, who edged Josiah Perez of Monroe for second place in a battle of teenage runners.
Lilleyman also won the Run Thru History last March and was second at the Over the River Run in October.
“I’m really pleased because I wanted to win this one as well,” Lilleyman said. “I was just running for pleasure today. It was an enjoyable run.”
As for his moment of showboating, Lilleyman said he thought he heard his children calling to him so he turned around to wave. He was well in front by that point, and only in danger of losing a few seconds off his time and not the lead. As he ran backward, the next runners were just beginning to appear on a long straightaway down Drummond Street, about four blocks away.

“He was gone,” said the runner-up Roesch, who watched Lilleyman sprint away at the start. “It was pretty typical for him. I was playing catch-up most of the time.”
One of the runners in the group behind Lilleyman was Kristi Hall, who knows a thing or two about dominating a race. The 36-year-old Vicksburg resident won the Chill in the Hills women’s title for the sixth time in its seven-year history — she didn’t compete the other time — and for the 12th time in one of Vicksburg’s three road races.
Hall finished fourth overall with a time of 43 minutes even, just nipping running partner Joe Giambrone by a second at the finish line.
“He was closing in on the home stretch. I wouldn’t be able to live in Vicksburg if Joe beat me,” Hall said with a laugh as Giambrone stood nearby.
It was Hall’s first race since winning the Over the River Run in October. She said she’d been nursing a leg injury and was just getting back to running form.
“I’ve been injured for a year. I’ve done some physical therapy and am finally feeling better for the first time in a long time,” Hall said. “I was happy with that.”
Another Chill in the Hills champion, Larry Robinson, added a chili bowl trophy to his growing collection.
The 45-year-old from Flora won his third consecutive Chill title in the 5K race walk with a time of 31 minutes even. Robinson has also won the Run Thru History twice and the Over the River Run four times during a dominant five-year stretch on the state’s race walk circuit.
His time Saturday was 2 minutes and 22 seconds faster than runner-up Gordon Sluis. The women’s winner. Sonja Dufrene of Hazlehurst, finished with a time of 35:04.
“That’s my best time ever. I like that,” Robinson said with a wide smile. “I had the flu last year and I lost about seven pounds. My legs aren’t tired. I’m good.”
In the children’s 1-mile fun run, Jake Brister edged Isaac Perez by one second to win with a time of 4:44, and Gloria Hall — Kristi Hall’s daughter — won the girls’ title with a time of 4:54. The race was accidentally shortened a few hundred yards by the race’s police escort.
A total of 294 people competed in the three races, although the number of registered runners and walkers was slightly different. Some do not complete the race or aren’t scored as they come through the chute at the finish line.