Papua New Guinea mid-distance runner Israel Takap has set a new personal best in his 8,000m race (8km) following his participation at the 2024 National Junior College Cross Country Championships.
Takap, who departed in August this year for further studies and training at the New Mexico Junior College, was named in his college team following an improved performance.
“I’m very excited about the race, though it was a very tough course for me. It was the moment that I was training forward to, and by looking at the results,” Takap said.
“I had improved a lot from the previous one that I ran 26:29, and now I ran 26.11 seconds, which is my new personal best (PB) in 8km.”
The East New Britain native left with his college team to compete in Richmond, Virginia, for the National Junior College Cross Country Championships.
He has impressed the coaches with his training effort since arriving in August and has posted improved times in each cross country race to date.
Prior to setting a new PB, Takap clocked a time of 27 minutes 17 secs in his first 8km race in September, then ran a 26:29.7 minutes at the Regional Championships two weeks ago.
Takap said he was looking forward to the Half Marathon race on November 12 (USA local time), three days after Saturday’s cross country.
Meanwhile, fellow PNG athlete Mary Tenge has also made a good start to her cross country career and made a similar improvement during the season, culminating in a time of 20 min 35 seconds in her last race over the 5km distance.
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