News

June 7, 2006 - Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro

Torrential downpour in Belgrade

The day before the first ever Belgrade International Meeting, the weather was beautiful, sunny and 20 C. However, things quickly changed that evening and by the morning of the competition, it was about 10 C and pouring rain. Since the weather is the same for everyone, Stellingwerff decided to just go out and race to the best of her ability.

The women’s 1500m featured a number of world-level athletes, many who have posted times of 4:10 or faster, which would have proved to be a good competition under normal circumstances. But, this was not the case. Due to a power failure, the race was delayed by 30 minutes. When Hilary and 10 others finally took to the line, the track was more like a swimming pool and they could see their breathe in the air. The first women crossed the line in 4:10 (and had run five seconds faster a week earlier) and Hilary was fifth in 2:16.

“I went to Belgrade because I knew there would be a good field and I wanted to run fast,” said Stellingwerff. “I’m obviously disappointed with the time, but of course you can never predict the weather and you just have to go out there and race. It’s good practice in case it happens in a major race.”

Hilary was happy to return to Maastricht Thursday to sunny skies and warm weather – perfect for the train block she has planned for the next few weeks. She will race next in Hengelo at the Dutch Club Nationals on June 25th. Then, Hilary hopes to get into some good races around Europe during the month of July, with the first of those likely being in Oordegem, Belgium.