media_artricles :: 2015

Nero eyes Rio

proud of T&T Half Marathon beaver-trick

Tonya Nero is determined to be among the starters in the Olympic Games women’s marathon, on August 14, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nero came agonisingly close to qualifying for the 2012 London Games when she returned a national record time of two hours, 43 minutes, 14 seconds at the 2012 ABN Amro Marathon in Rotterdam, Holland. Trinidad and Tobago’s best-ever female distance runner needed a 2:43:00 run to realise her Olympic dream.

Nero told the Express she had been planning to return to Rotterdam in April in a bid to qualify for the Rio Games. However, she is now doing a re-think.

“I just started back training properly when the year started, so a run further down in the year would be better to go after the qualifying time. I’ll have two shots at it—this year and next year—and I know that once I put my mind to it I can achieve it.”

Nero also has the 2015 IAAF World Championship women’s marathon on her radar. But in order to compete in that 26.2-mile race, on August 30 in Beijing, China, she would need to achieve the 2:44:00 qualifying standard in another marathon.

As part of her marathon preparation, Nero competed in the 2015 T&T International Half Marathon. The 26-year-old athlete was unchallenged for the women’s title, clocking one hour, 19 minutes, 30 seconds in the 13.1-mile race to complete a beaver-trick of victories. She won in 2012 in 1:19:06, and successfully defended her title the following year with a 1:23:42 run. Nero followed up last year with a 1:20:25 triumph, before winning for the fourth straight time on January 25. Her 1:19:30 clocking was also good enough for third spot overall, behind men’s winner Shayne Barran (1:18:15) and runner-up Lionel Dandrade (1:18:26). The next best female finisher was more than 12 minutes slower than Nero.

“Most of the competition is in the full marathon,” said Nero, “but it still feels good to have won. I try to run for a specific time, and my goal was under one hour, 20 minutes, so it was an achievement for me.”

Nero’s winning run, however, was more than four minutes adrift of the 1:15:13 national half marathon record she had established in finishing 27th at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, in Kavarna, Bulgaria. Earlier that year, the Maracas Valley runner had returned home after completing her studies at Wichita State University in Kansas, USA.

“I had a lot of challenges when I came back home from the US. It’s a whole different atmosphere. At Wichita, it was just training and schoolwork, and I had access to all the facilities. But now that I’m home, I have a lot of responsibilities, including my younger siblings. But I’m getting used to the change now.”

Funding has also been a challenge for Nero.

“I have to make it to the top three in an IAAF-recognised meet to qualify for elite funding, which means I need to be a medallist at the regional level. The last time I got elite funding was in 2013. It has been challenging to prepare without it.”

The T&T distance running star is hoping that the new Minister of Sport, Brent Sancho would approve some kind of funding to assist in her Olympic qualifying bid.

“For now, I’m just training, seven days a week in Maracas Valley and at the Queen’s Park Savannah. I’ll keep running all the road races at home—5Ks, 10Ks, whatever—some for time and others as training. And I’ll keep liaising with Paul Voisin, who offers me guidance.”

Nero explained that she still uses training programmes provided by her Wichita State coach, Kirk Hunter.

“Paul oversees my training, and would adjust it in the build-up to races. Last year, I trained with Samantha Shukla, Jenelle Nedd and Kerticha John. So far this year, Samantha and I have been training together.”

Nero, Shukla and George Smith will represent T&T at the February 22 Pan American Cross Country Cup, in Barranquilla, Colombia. The Cup will also serve as the North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships and the South American Cross Country Championships.

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