Distance runners ready to make leap to steeplechase
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 11, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 COURTNEY STEWART Distance runners Gina
Donnelly, Melissa McBain, Julia
Barbour and Elaine Canchola are the first
Bruins to compete in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
They stand at 5-feet-2, 5-1, 5-5 and 5-5. They have a collective
nine years of distance experience at UCLA. They had hurdled a total
of zero times before attempting the event. Their mission: to
complete seven and a half laps and clear 35 33-inch barriers
““ including seven water jumps ““ in less than 10:20 to
qualify for Nationals.
Led by junior Elaine Canchola, whose best time currently stands
at 10:54.79, the group of sophomores Melissa McBain and Julia
Barbour and senior Gina Donnelly are the first women to ever
compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for UCLA.
The event replaces the open 3,000m run as a NCAA event for women
and gives these athletes a new opportunity to score for their
team.
“The main reason that they have taken on the challenge of
learning the discipline is that it’s an opportunity,”
distance coach Eric Peterson said. “These are kids that you
don’t read a lot about and they are working very hard to make
a name for themselves within the program and conference.
“We’ve wanted them to take a look at how they can
help our team, not just how they can become better runners,”
he added.
The steeplechase may be the most demanding track and field event
out there. Not only is it a 3,000m distance race, but there is a
barrier every 80m.
Having been distance runners their whole careers, not a single
one had ever had to clear a hurdle.
“The first test,” Donnelly said, “was to see
who was going over the hurdle to determine whether it was us or
not. They had to see if we were going to go over it or not, and we
all went over and didn’t stop.”
But it wasn’t as easy as she makes it sound. In fact,
Barbour didn’t quite clear it on her first try and ended up
with a black eye at the end of their first practice.
And going into their first competition, Barbour, Donnelly and
McBain had never gone over the water jump, which is directly behind
the hurdle at the three-quarters point of each lap.
Donnelly described their first time negotiating the water jump.
“We were all like, “˜Aaah!'”
But as they’ve competed, the women, coached primarily by
Assistant distance coach Helen Leham-Winters, have learned the
technique and begun to work on mastering it.
“You’re trying to run through (the water
jump),” Donnelly explained. “You’re jumping over
it and into it and using momentum as a tool.”
Leham-Winters has also helped the foursome take a more technical
approach to the race, something they are not used to.
In pure distance races, runners try to maintain a steady rhythm
through the greater portion of the race and push themselves at the
end.
In the steeplechase, though, athletes are challenged by the
constant changes to which they must adapt. After hurdling each
barrier the women must regain their rhythm, speed up to attack the
next barrier and continue this up-and-down pattern through the
whole race.
“For distance runners, probably for most of their lives,
they haven’t had to approach the sport in such a technical
way, and that’s a challenge,” Leham-Winters said.
“It requires a different amount of focus and concentration
and body awareness.
“Distance runners don’t normally train in a manner
that requires that amount of concentration on technique or fine
motor movements,” she added.
The focus that the event demands is one reason Barbour
enthusiastically embraced it.
“I don’t focus easily, so it’s good to focus
on point to point,” Barbour said. “I have a lot of
strength, not just endurance, so I think it’s better for me
to be in an event that’s more active.”
But there isn’t just one quality that makes an athlete a
good steeplechaser. It’s a combination of flexibility,
strength, endurance and focus.
It is this aspect that appeals to the Bruin competitors,
especially McBain.
“Because there are so many different techniques, there are
so many ways to improve,” McBain said. “I had a bad
race last weekend but instead of getting discouraged, I’m
anxious to get back out there and do it again and have a better
time and feel better about it.”
And even Donnelly, who is in her final year with the track and
field program, and who initially wanted to stick with what was
familiar to her, has developed a passion for the challenge. Since
she started training and learning, she has grown more confident in
her ability and is excited to keep improving.
The women credit coach Leham-Winters for keeping them encouraged
and excited while putting all the aspects together.
“She reminds us to think about what you have control over,
like your form,” Barbour said. “You lose control when
you think about how painful it is and tiring it is.”
That may be the most challenging part of the race ““
maintaining form, focus and stamina through the whole race.
“You have to be able to get through the fatigue to fight
through while keeping your technique good in between the
hurdles,” Donnelly said.
And what also motivates these four the most is the bond that
they’ve formed through training.
“We have our little crew,” Barbour said.
Canchola, Barbour, Donnelly and McBain are pioneers in this
event and together, they push to improve.
