European Racing Circuit Update
Walking away from USA's in Eugene all of us felt like the week was a success for our elites in different ways. Some women walked away not with the races that they wanted but with a clear vision of their future goals. Many of them walked away with a renewed fire for what is to come this next year leading into the Olympic Trails. Some felt that their overall goals were accomplished but that more was left in the tank for next year as well.
Highlights from the weekend included Shalaya Kipp finishing 6th in the finals of the steeple in a time of 9:37:09; her best of the season which helped her qualify for Toronto Pan Games at the end of July. The week as whole ended on a pretty spectacular note with Kerri Gallagher finishing 3rd in the 1500m finals. Despite finishing third she still needed the A standard in the 1500m in order to quality to race at the World Championship in August. Recovering from the week a small group of our elite women packed their bags again and headed to Europe to run some great races in Europe’s summer circuit.
First up, on Tuesday July 7th Kerri Gallagher gathered her momentum from USA's to win the Lignano Meeting International 1500 meters in a time of 4:03:56. This race was not only a personal record by 5 seconds but it smashed the World Qualifying time as well! Booyah! She punched her ticket to Beijing in her first European race. This is not always the case when travel can affect your sleep and how fresh you feel on race day.
Next up, Lauren Wallace raced Tuesday as well in Cork, Ireland. She finished 2nd in the 800 meters in a time of 2:04:02 behind road mile extraordinaire Heather Kampf.
Saturday both Kerri and Lauren travelled to Kortrjik, Belgium for the Flanders Cup Meeting International: Kerri in the 800meters and Lauren in the 1500m. Kerri walked away with another PR this time in the 800 meters with a time of 2:02.6. She finished 8th in another stacked field. Determined to go under the 2:02 barrier Lauren Wallace raced this week as well in Luzern, Switzerland with a low 2:02 racing an aggressive race and taking several risks along the way.
So what’s next for our group on the European circuit?
FRIDAY, JULY 17
Diamond League Monaco - 1500m: Kerri Gallagher
SATURDAY, JULY 18
Toronto Pan Am Games – Marathon: Catherine Watkins
FRIDAY, JULY 24
Morton Games in Dublin, Ireland - 800m: Lauren Wallace
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 24 & 25:
Toronto Pan Am Games – 1500m: Kerri Gallagher
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