Magic Moment: National title then off to Texas
Hannah Miller wanted to make her last race before heading to America in 2016 a good one - and she did just that.
Southland athletics has produced many magical moments so as part of a Tribune series we are recalling some of them. Today we turn the clock back to August 2016 when Hannah Miller won a national title before hoping on a plane to Texas.
A stop off in Auckland on the way to Texas was golden Moment for Hannah Miller back in 2016 Hannah was on her way to Dallas, Texas, to take up an athletic scholarship at SMU University.
The Auckland and the NZ crosscountry champs happened to be in Auckland a day prior to her international flight.
She wanted to make her last race before heading to America a good one. To her, good meant only one thing: winning the New Zealand U20 crosscountry championship which did. Emphatically.
Hannah went very much under the radar, not being mentioned as a medal prospect in Athletic New Zealand’s preview but she preferred it that way.
A 17.06 5km time trial two weeks previously to go with her 78 min half marathon at Christchurch that included a sub 37 min 10k on the way (one of the fastest half marathons by any U20 in recent times) indicated she had the right combination of speed and strength. This gave her the confidence to start hard and attempt to dictate the race, with the tactic paying off.
The Southlander started fast and led from the gun putting in a withering last 300m to seal the victory over the soft, muddy 6m Domain course.
Temperature in Dallas that Saturday was 38 degrees. A bit of a change from Southland training conditions, but she thrived in the America college system to be MSU’s dominant distant runner.
She graduated from SMU then did a master’s in public policy at the University of New Mexico.
Since returning home Hannah has won national title in the marathon, half marathon 10k track, 10k road and represented NZ at the World Crosscountry Champs.
She now works as a Policy Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wellington.
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