Tania Tan at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia.
Sildrey Veloria at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia.
Dr. Ron Snyder at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia.
TEAM NMI’s Tania Tan and Sildrey Veloria competed among the best in the world in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships held over the weekend in Bathurst, Australia.
Tan, 21, placed 82nd overall among 90 participants in the 10K race with a time of 44:51.
“The toughest part was the course,” she said. “It was nearly 800 feet of elevation…. You had to not only run through hills in 93-degree heat, but there were sand, mud, grass, vineyards, and we had to zigzag through tires, and uneven ground. It was so tough.”
She added, “When we previewed the course, I knew how hard it was going to be so my goal turned out to be to just finish the race. I had no expectations of what time I was going to run so I am satisfied with my overall time.”
That the NMI was a part of a big event such as the World Athletics Cross Country Championships was also special for Tan.
“Overall, the experience was amazing,” she said. “I’ve never competed in such a big event like that before so it was surreal to be there among the best distance runners of the world. I feel it is important to invite the small nations [and jurisdictions] like the NMI to give us a perspective of the rest of the world, build our experience and confidence, and allow us to take what we’ve learned back home to share.”
NMI national athletics coach Dr. Ron Snyder noted that it was “the first time the NMI has ever been in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships. These were the best runners in the world and it was amazing for our islands to be able to participate.”
He said the NMI runners “may not have threatened the winners but we were well ahead of the back of the pack. It was refreshing to see our athletes developing so strongly. Tania’s training at Fordham [University in New York] has been incredibly successful and Sildrey, although only running for a few years, did amazingly well.”
However, Veloria, a 20-year-old Northern Marianas College student, did not finish his 10K race after organizers pulled runners midway into the event due to a developing storm.
Masters
Snyder, for his part, participated in the masters event. “The overall experience was amazing — not just from the masters race but from the whole World Athletics event from start to finish,” he said.
“I met up with some friends from my middle/long distance coaching class. One was a team manager from the New Zealand team and one raced in the masters with me. That was cool.”
Snyder said he was “very satisfied” with his performance. “The course designers were asked to make this the toughest cross country of all time and they didn’t disappoint. The toughest part for me had to be the hills. They were very steep in places and also put into strategically difficult parts of the course. As Kaithlyn Tuhy, the NCAA cross country champion said after this year’s NCAA championship, ‘The hills pay the bills.’ Unfortunately, I had not paid enough of those bills in training before the event. The toughest hill was right after the mud pit when our legs were the most tired and our shoes at their wettest. Still, I love the mud. It is such a thrilling part of any cross country course — much like the water pit in a steeple chase. I would have preferred even more mud! My only regret was getting caught up in a rookie mistake in the beginning. The masters field was very competitive and the adrenalin was high. I took off way too fast on the 200m uphill start and that hurt me.”
Snyder said the overall winner in the masters division ran a 5:14 mile pace “on an incredibly difficult course.”
The leader in his age group was Shawn Creighton, a former Australian national champion and Olympiad who medaled twice in the IAAF World Athletics Cup. He ran a 5:22 mile pace.
“It was super competitive and it felt amazing running with such distinguished athletes,” Snyder said. “Even with such an experienced field, the course took its toll and three athletes had to be taken from the course by medical personnel. This is probably a once in a lifetime experience but if I have the chance to do this again, I will be very psyched to focus on training going into it. Aside from making the course difficult, the designers of the course also did a very nice job making it represent Australia. There was a billabong, a boomerang portion of the course, a beach section to represent Bondi Beach, the vineyards and a chicane section, or serpentine roadway, representing the fact that Mt. Panorama is known for its a motor racing track. I truly loved the paths through the vineyard, running through the grape vines. It was beautiful.”
