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Abrams to compete in World Indoors
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Posted on Feb 14 2012
By Roselyn Monroyo
Reporter
Reporter
Sprinter Rachel Abrams will be representing the CNMI to the 13th IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Abrams will race in the 60m run of the biennial competition, which will be held at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey from March 9 to 11. Joining her in Turkey is Northern Marianas Athletics coach Elias Rangamar.
“Rachel will be competing in her second off-island athletics tournament next month. We’re hoping she could better Yvette Bennett’s time in 2010,” Rangamar said.
Bennett ran in the similar event in Doha, Qatar two years ago and timed in at 8.68 seconds on Heat 1. In 2006, Tyrone Omar competed in the same race in Moscow, Russia, and recorded a CNMI national mark of 7.17 seconds.
“Rachel is not used to running indoors and next month’s race is a first and a stepping stone for her. When she goes to college and tries out for a team, she could add an indoor experience to her resume,” Rangamar added.
The Marianas High School student first represented the CNMI in the 2011 Pacific Games in New Caledonia and made it to the finals of the 200m race. Abrams timed in at 27.46 seconds to earn one of the two qualifying slots on Heat 3 and then logged 27.47 seconds in the rain-soaked finale. She also ran in the 100m event and competed in the long jump.
The CNMI is one of the 160 countries joining next month’s World Indoors. The number is a record, surpassing the 147 nations that participated in Valencia, Spain in 2008. The CNMI missed the World Indoors four years ago before returning to the International Association of Athletics Federations-sanctioned event in 2010 in Qatar, joining 142 other countries.
About 1,000 athletes are expected to compete in Turkey with more than 500 of them entered in the men’s events and the rest in the women’s competitions. These athletes will be battling not only for the bragging rights, but also for cash prizes. The winner of each event gets $40,000, $20,000 for second, and $10,000 for third. The three other placers (fourth to sixth) take home $9,000, $6,000, and $4,000. For relays, the Top 3 finishers will receive $40,000, $20,000, and 10,000, while the next three will pocket $8,000, $6,000, and $4,000.
