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The Best Cross Country Race on the PlanetJanuary 23, 2005 • Four-time Olympian Colleen De Reuck is typically over in Europe in January, racing in some of the top international cross country races in Spain, Portugal and France. This year, however, she stayed home to take care of her daughter, Tasmin, while her husband, Darren, was out coaching with his Boulder Striders training club. That is why De Reuck was thrilled to go out and compete in Saturday morning's inaugural "Best Cross Country Race on the Planet," a three-lap, 6K loop at Harlow Platt Park around Viele Lake in south Boulder. De Reuck won the race by over a minute while getting in an important tune-up for her title defense at the Feb. 12 U.S. cross county national 8K championships. "Cross country is my first love, so I really enjoyed it out there today," said De Reuck, a former bronze medalist in the World Cross Country Championships. "It is harder for me to get over to Europe now, and I was able to get in a good little workout before cross nationals. Peter (Julian) put on a great race. There were people out there who had never run cross country before. It was just great." Julian, an elite runner who is also training for U.S. nationals, came up with the idea of the race and helped organize it along with the Boulder Running Company. To top it off, Julian won the men's race in 20:09, followed in by Jared Scott in 20:25 and Lafayette's Sandu Rebenciuc (20:53). Julian won $300, which he immediately donated to the City's EXPAND program, the race beneficiary. Scott earned $200 while Rebeniuc picked up $100. "I am really pleased with the way it turned out," said Julian, 33, who works for local robotics firm Acroname. "There are so many knowledgeable people in Boulder that it was easy to do this. At every turn we had people helping out." Indeed, Julian had help pounding in stakes and laying out the course Friday night from a crew that included former U.S. marathon champ Scotty Larson and ex-marathon world record holder Steve Jones. Then on Saturday, course volunteers included people like University of Colorado All-American Brett Schoolmeester. And watching the race and signing autographs were top U.S. runners Alan and Shayne Culpepper, Dathan Ritzenhein and Steve and Sara Slattery. "It was really cool," said Julian. "This brought the running community together." Without much sleep, Julian said he stood on the starting line a bit fatigued. "The first lap I was a little nervous when Sandu (Rebeniuc) took it out hard," he said. "When I caught him (at the end of the first lap), I said 'I might as well just go.'" Taking the lead early and pulling away was the strategy De Reuck used as well. She went to the front and kept pressing the pace until she got a good gap on Martha Tenorio of Ecuador and former World Triathlon Champ Siri Lindley. De Reuck finished in 23:02, with Tenorio clocking 24:15 and Lindley finishing in 24:46. "I was feeling good and ran well today," said Tenorio, the South American marathon record holder at 2:26:57. "But Colleen was better. I was with her on the first lap, then she was gone. She is flying right now. " That was the kind of feedback De Reuck wanted to get from the "Best Race." "I didn't run with a watch, because in cross country time does not matter; it is just effort," said De Reuck, adding that her goal for U.S. nationals is to finish in the top six in order to earn her sixth trip to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, to be held March 16-19 in France. "I have had a slow start this year. I took seven weeks off after the Olympic marathon, then was sick for a week over Thanksgiving. I am not quite in the shape I was last year. I'm hoping three weeks out until nationals I can get stronger, and by World Cross get a little stronger. Running a race like this is good for your confidence. It was lots of fun." NATIONALS IN BOULDER?: After the conclusion of the "Best Cross Country Race on the Planet," Julian said he would like to bring the U.S. national cross country championships to Boulder in the coming years. "People I have talked to about it, like Alan (Culpepper), love the idea," Julian said. "It would be incredible, and I think we would get more support here than probably just about anywhere in the nation. After seeing the race today, you start to think, 'Hey, maybe we really need to make an effort to bring a race like nationals here to Boulder.'"
Women's Results from Saturday's 6K race: This article was originally published on The Daily Camera website. |
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