News

June 25, 2006 - Dutch Club Nationals, Hengelo

Success at Dutch Club Nationals

Sunday proved to be a great test for Hilary at the Dutch Club Nationals, as she tripled in the 800m, 1500m and 4x400m relay, all of which were about 90 minutes apart. She races for club Unitas, which is located close to Maastricht where she lives and trains.

To start the day, Hilary opened with a win in the women’s 800m, racing to the line for a 2:07.07 final time. She was happy with this time considering the first lap was in 65 seconds, which is a quite slow compared to what Hilary would usually go out in.

Next up was the 1500m. Hilary sat back for the first half of the race, which ended up being tactically slow, going through 800m in around 2:21. She took over from there to test herself for the faster pace she will have to endure in bigger competitions. It ended up being a great race against a talented young Dutch runner, Adrienne Hertzog (who Hilary trained with in Portugal). They raced to the line, closing their last lap in 63.5, with Hilary edging Hertzog to the line in a 4:16.51 for the win.

To finish the day, Hilary ran in the 4x400m relay, which she says is somewhat of a nostalgic event for her because she used to run it in high school and actually hasn’t run it since her second year at the University of Wisconsin. Hilary ran the third leg and received the baton in first place. To her relief (she said later), she kept the lead for the team with a 56.2 split and their last runner finished it off by taking the win. This helped Unitas take second overall in the competition, but only 3 points from first.

Overall, Hilary says she is pleased with the day because it shows she is strong and ready to run faster in individual races. “This was a good test for me because I don’t get a chance to double or triple very often and it’s good prep for the rounds in major championships,” she said. “I’m especially happy because I essentially took my performances in the last two races (Cottbus and Belgrade) and ran the same times here with only 90 minutes between. This shows my fitness is much better than even two weeks ago.”

Next up for Hilary is an 800m in Oordegem, Belgium on July 1st. From there she will join her coach from Canada, Dave Scott-Thomas, and the Canadian National Team to stay in Belgium for July where they will train and compete together.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting up with the group [of Canadians]. I don’t get to see them very often now that we are living in Europe so it will be very nice to be together as a group. We all get along great.”

Full results from Dutch Club Nationals here>>

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