Robinson eyes Amsterdam podium

Top-rated Barbadian distance runner Carlie Robinson is set to depart the island on Wednesday to compete in one of the most high-profile races of her career.

After winning the CARICOM 10k run in Saint Lucia in July and following that performance with a third-place finish in the Venture Credit Union 5K in Trinidad, Robinson says she’s in good form as she prepares to compete  during the TCS Amsterdam Marathon weekend.

Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY, Robinson revealed she will participate in the Mizuno Half Marathon on Sunday, October 18.

Robinson is one of the most recognisable faces on the regional road race circuit and says the event in the Netherlands, is an extremely high-profile one.

“It’s one of the really big international races, and I’ve been training all summer into September now into October. I feel like we’re gonna make a good push.

“I’d like to set a new personal best at this race, so I’m hoping that will come through. Maybe four years ago I first looked at this event to put on my calendar as something I should do,” Robinson explained.

“Based on the times I knew that if I got myself into really good shape, I could probably crack the top 10, and it’s also got a flat fast course, which is number one when I’m looking at running for time, I need a flat fast course.”

Having trained and competed in warmer regional conditions all season, Robinson says she’s hopeful of a big performance boost, during the cooler conditions in Amsterdam on Sunday. She believes her pre-race form is excellent, thanks to the hard work she put in ahead of the race.

“So I’m training with Leo Garnes in the Elite Distance program.I have done so for many, many years and he has a really great group of athletes.

A lot of the young triathletes are training with him as well, so we have a good group together. We train three times a week at the Gymnasium and there is no pain like training for a distance event, it’s a lot of really hard work.

“I’m really proud that I’m doing all my training at home in Barbados, you know, the roads of St Philip know me very, very well.

“When I get into these overseas races and I’m facing a lot of Europeans, North American and Africans in really top class international fields, I can kind of show that we have what it takes here in the Caribbean to get into these big races and still perform well, that we can do it from home ahead of a big race.”

Despite the stiff competition which she expects to face, Robinson is confident of a strong showing in the race, provided everything goes according to plan.

“I am very confident that we’ll get the top 10, and I think that’s a great achievement in itself to put that little Bajan flag marker in the top 10 leaderboard.

“If I have a great day, we could be looking at top five. If I have a great day, and I’m very very lucky, we may make the podium. I think most likely we’ll look at a top five or a top ten, but for me that’s success.”

(KH)