Hannam ready for U.S.

Press, 18 May 1989, Page 34

Hannam ready for U.S.

PA Wellington The Christchurch runner Anne Hannam leaves for the United States this month still not completely recovered from the pelvic stress fracture which forced her out of competitive running for two months. But Hannam, aged 27, is hopeful she will be able to resume her successful United States road circuit career by July 4 at the Peachtree 10km in Atlanta, Georgia. “I’m doing quite high mileage again, but I’m not 100 per cent better yet. There’s still a wee bit of discomfort,” she said.

But Hannam is philosophical about the injury which meant her last race was the Bali 10km in late February, where she finished second in

32min 40s to Liz McColgan (Scotland). “If I hadn't got this injury, I would have gone over to the States and raced a bit flat,” she said.

Although her racing has been limited, Hannam’s training wasn’t halted completely by the injury and there was only one day. she did not run. "I was right back to square one, doing light jogging for half an hour a day. Of course, that meant I lost some sharpening work but everybody has to go through the conditioning phase for a good aerobic base,” she said. Hannam will again be based in Fort Collins, Colorado, and plans to return to New Zealand at the end of October for the 10,000 m 1990 Commonwealth Games trial

in November. Although she has a 10km best time of 31:31 on the road, Hannam has had minimal experience on the track over the distance. She has clocked 15:29 over 5000 m and won the national title ahead of Waikato marathoner Marguerite Buist in a raindrenched 15:46.83 last January. Hannam’s first foray into the highly competitive United States road circuit came last year when, on a training diet of 193 km a week and no speedwork, she won a series of 10km and 15km races. She was then part of the New Zealand team which successfully defended its world women’s road relay title in Japan late last year.