IAAF WXC 2010 Website
BYDGOSZCZ, Poland – While his Portland Pilots teammates compete at the Stanford Track and Field Invitational, freshman Trevor Dunbar is half way around the world getting ready to compete at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on Sunday, March 28th. Dunbar earned the right to represent his country by winning the USA Junior Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Wash. on March 13th.
Dunbar is competing at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships for the first time and will compete in the junior category with a field of 287 athletes. The American squad is made up of the top six finishers from the USA Championships. To compete in the junior race a runner must be older than 16 and not turn 20 years old during the 2010 calendar year.
The 8,000-meter course winds along the river and through the green areas that make Bydgoszcz famous. The event welcomes a total of 499 runners (men/women and junior/senior) from 56 nations.
Last year’s World Junior Champion, Ayele Abshero from Ethiopia, will be competing in the senior race this time. Uganda’s Moses Kibet is the highest-placed returnee in the junior race from the 2009 World Championships in Amman, Jordan.
Dunbar is redshirting the 2010 indoor track and field season for the Portland Pilots team so that he could train for the USA and World Championships. The Kodiak, Alaska native was an integral part of Portland’s cross country 13th-place finish at the NCAA championship on Nov. 23, 2009.