Featured Runner - Edition 1
RM Racing’s Chaney Qualifies for
XTERRA World Championship
Maryville native, Emily Chaney is not often in one place for long. If she’s not white water rafting through the gorges of West Virginia, she is probably traveling to race. Lately, Emily has been competing in the triathlon circuit – more specifically, the XTERRA Off Road Triathlon Series. XTERRA began in 1996 when it was decided that there should be a triathlon more suited to attract the outdoor enthusiast. Today, XTERRA holds events world wide that are comprised of an open water swim, mountain bike and trail run.
Emily decided to give the XTERRA series a try this past June at the ACE Big Canyon Triathlon in Oak Hill, WV which is just down the road from here current residence of Fayetteville. Only her fourth ever triathlon, Emily placed 3rd overall with a time of 2:50:39 for the 1.5 mile swim, 8 mile up hill trail run and roughly 11 mile mountain bike. Two weeks later, she traveled to Richmond, Virginia for the East Championship, which was a qualifying race for the XTERRA World Championship to be held in Maui in October. By placing 2nd in her age group and 22nd overall that included a field of 15 professional triathletes, Emily qualified and received an invitation to compete in Maui. Not to be outdone in Richmond, Chaney found herself in Gallatin, TN three weeks later winning the XTERRA Lock 4 Blast in a time of 2:11:08 for the .5 mile swim, 12 mile mountain bike and 4.2 mile run.
A former standout at William Blount High School, Emily went on to run at ETSU and currently competes for the Runners Market Race Team. This past April, Emily set a huge personal best of 2:59:01 at the Boston Marathon where she was the 47th overall female. Now with some experience as a triathlete, Emily would like to compete at the XTERRA National and World Championships and is also considering the possibility of running in the New York Marathon in November. A lot of her racing plans are uncertain for now, as she plans to attend graduate school in the fall, but she would like to try an ultra marathon in 2009.
Story by Daniel Julian
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