Takap runs personal best time

Papua New Guinea mid-distance runner Israel Takap has set a new personal best in his 8,000m race [8km] at the 2024 National Junior College Cross Country Championships in the USA.

Takap who departed in August 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,” he 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.

Prior to setting a new PB, Takap clocked a time of 27minutes 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 20min 35 seconds in her last race over the 5km distance.