By Julianna Parker Jones
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Five women will represent the University of Oklahoma in an all-women transcontinental air race Tuesday through June 26.
Ashley Crawford, Lexi Taylor, Barb McClurkin, Kiersten Orrick and Micah Doeden will take part in the 33rd annual Air Race Classic. The women will pilot two small aircraft for 2,714 miles.
"We're just going to be flying all day, so it's gonna test our endurance," Crawford said. "...The longest I've flown is six hours flying cross-country, so flying all day is gonna be pretty hard."
OU hasn't sent a team to the air race before. Doeden heard about it and got the support of the other women and that of OU to participate in the competition.
Doeden, Crawford and Taylor are aviation seniors at OU. McClurkin is a faculty member at OU who has flown for a long time but is just now making the transition from flying a Cessna to a Warrior. Orrick is a flight instructor.
"I'm looking forward to the experience, as we all are," Orrick said. "...I'm looking forward to flying out of state, far out of state."
None of the women has participated in a race like this before. McClurkin has participated in the Okie Derby, but that competition is about precision flying. This one is about "speed, pure and simple," McClurkin said. "And you're racing against your own handicap depending on what aircraft you're flying." Each aspect of the plane is rated with different handicaps so all 34 teams in the race are competing against each other on a level playing field.
The race will begin in Denver, Colo., and stop in Liberal, Kan.; Sweetwater, Texas; Lufkin, Texas; Russellville, Ark.; Grenada, Miss.; Sparta, Tenn.; Jacksonville, Ill.; Racine, Wis.; and finally they will end in Atlantic, Iowa.
The women will break into two teams: Crawford, Taylor and McClurkin on one and Orrick and Doeden on the other. Even though they'll be competing against each other in the race, adviser Julie Orrick said the women have worked together to raise the funds needed to enter the competition.
The women had to raise $8,000 total for the contest. All but a few hundred dollars has been raised.
"We're really grateful for all the support we've been given," Doeden said.
The last fundraiser is a silent auction that the public can take part in at the Westheimer Airport. The auction ends noon Thursday.
The women will head to Denver Friday for pre-race events. Although this is a new experience, they said they feel prepared.
The women are eager to take part in a rich history of women's air racing. The Air Race Classic will celebrate the 80th anniversary of women's air racing. This race was started by the Ninety Nines, an all-women pilot organization.
McClurkin said there will be a lot of legendary women pilots at this race, if not actually flying then helping out in one way or another. Gene Nora Jessen, OU aviation alumna and Mercury 13 astronaut, will be racing in the event, she said.
The women said people in Norman have been supportive of their effort, men as well as women. Taylor said the men in OU's Department of Aviation have reacted positively to the news the women will participate in the competition.
"I think they're kind of jealous that we get to do this," she said.
Julianna Parker Jones 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com
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