Previous Story
Tan, Santos complete races in Australia
The CNMI’s Tyler Santos, second left, and Tania Tan, third left, join other Oceania athletes who competed in last Saturday’s Australian Cross Country Championships/ Oceania Cross Country Championships 2018 at the Maleny Golf Club in Sunshine Coast, Queensland. (Contributed Photo)
CNMI runners Tania Tan and Tyler Santos survived one of the toughest courses in Australia as they completed their respective races in the Australian Cross Country Championships/ Oceania Cross Country Championships 2018 last Saturday.
Santos did the 6K event in the competition held the Maleny Golf Club in Sunshine Coast, Queensland and clocked in at 27:42, while Tan ran in the 4K race and submitted 20:56.
Over 1,200 runners across Australia and several member-countries of Oceania Athletics Association joined the competition at Maleny and many did not complete their races because of the unforgiving course. Even Australian Olympian Madeline Hills, who topped the 10K event, admitted to having difficulty with the hilly terrain.
“Very, very tough course, we heard it was going to be hilly and I don’t think there was anyone that turned up here today (last Saturday) that wasn’t surprised and terrified. So, yeah it was tough, I was counting down the kilometers. But I am very happy to have conquered that one,” Hills was quoted as saying in the OAA website.
Ron Snyder, who coached Tan and Santos in last weekend’s competition, reported to Northern Marianas Athletics how the two young athletes ran a disciplined and smart race, while ambulances stationed at the venue were busy attending to runners that were wore down by the punishing course.
NMA helped Tan and Santos make it to the Australian Cross Country Championships/ Oceania Cross Country Championships 2018 with the two CNMI runners named to the Oceania Team. Also on the squad were Fiji’s Avikash Lal, Guam’s Alison Bowman, Ben Middlebrooke and Shista Benavente Delgado, and Tahiti’s Elodie Menou and Sophie Bouchonnet, who all competed in the 10K race.
“Thank you Northern Mariana Athletics and Oceania Athletics Association for the opportunity to represent the NMI and run in the 2018 Australian Cross Country Championships,” Tan said.
