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Week of
September 11th-15th, 2007 The Woodbridge Invitational has become one of those prep experiences with its evening sweepstakes level races that has become a highlight of the Fall season. Thousands who stick around from earlier in the day and those who come to watch line the side of the course and runners often race “past a wall” of sound, spectators, and supportive cheering that inspires them to truly special efforts. This year in the Girls Sweepstakes race it was the hometown girl, Christine Babcock, who looked quite serious before the race who seemed intent on making it a truly special evening. The California State 1600 champ at 4:38.85 in a solo run last June had run 16:31 here last year to set a Course Record and it was clear from the start when after the first half mile this year she was intent on placing that record in a slightly more challenging position for future runners here. The tall Woodbridge runner has seemed to gain a tad more general strength, racing along with a powerful, purposeful stride far ahead of the pack, with a lead that stretched to over 30 seconds against some really good folks by the finish at an amazing 16:05. Race Video here (need broadband) We have been fortunate enough to see most of the great prep female distance running performances in modern history--Melody Fairchild winning Kinney Nationals by a minute, etc. etc., and this race ranks right up there on the list with one of the more amazing efforts we have ever seen. We caught up with the friendly Babcock some time after the race and did an interview. It is also possible to view video of her race (Broadband needed) at the following link, and we hope that a sense of her domination and the amazing quality of this performance come through in that video, along with the amazing sense of this evening competition. Doug Speck
Did you have a goal in mind timewise for this evening? Someone said your split times were pretty even, did you hear a
mile time or anything? Did you have splits in mind coming in? You kind of led things from very early on, did you have that as
a strategy, or were you going to base your race off other runners,
what was your strategy? Really a titanic performance, probably one of the best half dozen
performances ever, what does that make you think? So how much running did you do this summer? Did you do more running than previous summers? How many miles per day did you guys average? What did you do for workouts this week? What did you run the 400 repeats on Tuesday in? What about after the state meet this season? You shut it down
after the state meet last year. Have you given thought to going
on to some of the post-state meet competitions this year? How much faster do you think you can run the 1600/mile in this
year than last year (ed note - she ran a solo 4:38.85 to win state
over 1600m last June? What was your best time on this course last year? Video of the interview here (broadband needed) Congratulations - a great performance Doug Speck |
