ITALY — Mount Morris native Tim Chichester has achieved the ultimate dream for an American athlete. Chichester, who runs for the Genesee Valley Harriers, joined an elite group of runners from the region when he competed at the 28th World Mountain Running Championships in Ponte di Lengo, Italy. He joins the ranks of regional athletes like Kyle Heath, Noel Bateman, and Jeff Eggleston who have represented the USA at a world championship
“This was great opportunity, running for USA. I gained a lot of experience from some of the veteran USA runners,” said an exhausted Chichester, after completing the 14.4km uphill course. “It was really tough out there. 3km into the race I fell on a steep downhill section and my shoe came off. It was hard getting back into a rhythm after that.”
Mountain Running races consist mainly of steep up hills or steep down hills. Many mountain running courses are up access and service roads for mountains. Chichester finished in 89th place overall, with a time of 1:15:00.
Chichester, a SUNY Geneseo graduate, has had a stellar 2012 running season. The rising star placed 2nd at the Johnny’s Running of The Green 5-mile race; scored an 11th place finish at the Boston Marathon (2nd American); qualified for the USA Mountain Running Team; and 3 weeks ago, despite running with a bruised chest muscle, finished 6th at the highly competitive Bergen 5km. Chichester also won last year’s Oak Tree Half Marathon with a record course time of 1:09:09.
At the World Championships in Italy the United States men’s team finished 4th overall, led by Glenn Randall of Colorado. The winning team was Eritrea, an African Country next to Ethiopia that gained its independence in 1993 after many grueling years of war. The overall winner of the race was Eritrean Petro Mamo, who finished with a time of 1:01:34.