Wednesday, February 8, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
11
Running commenbary
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
A national championship
sporting event took place
Saturday in Bend — and for
other than a few diehard fans
and faithful volunteers, it
went largely unnoticed.
Bend hosted the USA
Track and Field (USATF)
national cross-country cham-
pionships for the second year
in a row at River’s Edge Golf
Club. The meet crowns the
national champions and is
the qualifying event for the
world cross-country champi-
onships scheduled for March
in Kampala, Uganda.
I can’t blame people for
not wanting to venture out
into the ice, slush, and mud
that greeted the runners, meet
officials, and spectators, but
at the same time it was a rare
chance to see Olympic-level
athletes right here in our own
backyard.
The meet began with a
four-kilometer community
race that included local run-
ners of all ages, followed by
masters races and finally the
elite runners.
The course, a two-kilo-
meter loop, had been cleared
over the last two weeks of
deep snow by hearty volun-
teers from the local running
community using shovels
to form the path. Saturday’s
warmer temperatures caused
plenty of melting, making
the course a classic muddy
cross-country challenge.
The women’s elite winner,
Aliphine Tuliamuk, a former
Witchita State University
runner now residing in Santa
Fe, New Mexico didn’t mind
the conditions whatsoever,
streaking to a 48-second win
in the 8,000-meter race with
a time of 34 minutes and
24 seconds. Tuliamuk, who
became a United States citi-
zen last spring, will return to
the African continent where
she was born (in Kenya) to
represent the United States
team in Uganda.
The top six runners in the
women’s and men’s races
will represent the U.S. in
Uganda.
The men’s race turned out
to be much more tactical as
the leaders stayed together
for much of the race,
including two Olympians,
Leonard Korir and Shadrack
Kipchirchir, who placed first
and third respectively. Korir
finished the 10,000-meter
race in 30:12.
A highlight for me was
catching up with Melody
Fairchild, 43, who won
the masters women’s race.
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
Leaders in the men’s USATF national championships navigate a slippery corner during the 10,000-meter race
at River’s Edge Golf Course.
Fairchild, who many con-
sider the best overall female
high school distance run-
ner of all time, has worked
at the Steens Mountain
Running Camp in south-
eastern Oregon for the past
few years, which is where
we first met. I have always
appreciated her passion for
the sport as well as her dedi-
cation to helping coach and
advise young female runners
to be well-balanced, healthy-
minded individuals.
She and her 10-month-
old son Dakota live in
Boulder, Colorado, near
where Melody grew up. She
is planning on helping con-
duct a women’s-only running
camp in Tillamook in the
future, thanks to her many
ties to Oregon.
As a longtime coach
myself, I am a big fan of her
efforts.
Bend’s most well-known
runner, Max King, who does
a lot of work with youth
running in Central Oregon,
ran very respectably on his
way to 13th place overall in
31:32. Now 36, King has left
his mark at the national level
in track, cross-country and
ultra-trail running. As one
onlooker said Saturday, “If
Max steps to the starting line
you know he’s going to give
100 percent, and he beats a
lot of guys much younger
than himself.”
Sisters resident Kent
Boles, an avid runner, found
the entire event inspiring, but
particularly appreciated the
masters runners, some who
were in their 70s and still
battling the course like the
youngsters.
“It’s impressive to see
people my age and actually
much older lacing up their
racing spikes and doing
this,” he said. “I’m really
glad I got to be here.”