Thursday, November 4, 2010

Happy Birthday, Adrian Blincoe



Today is Adrian Blincoe's 31st birthday. The Auckland, New Zealander was a seven-time All American and three-time NCAA champion while competing for Villanova. He won the NCAA 3000i title in his junior year (2002 -- see photo above) and finished second to Alistair Cragg as a senior (2003). He anchored two Villanova DMR teams (2002 -- see photo below -- and 2003) to NCAA national titles, and was an eight-time Big East and two-time Penn Relays champion. He is Villanova's school record holder at 3000 meters (7:47.50 in January 2002).


As a professional runner, Blincoe set the existing New Zealand national record in the 5000 meters, running 13:10.9 on July 20, 2008. That time is the second fastest 5000 meter race ever run by a Villanova-affiliated athlete (bested only by Sydney Maree's herculean 13:01.15 run in 1985). Adrian represented his native New Zealand at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the World Cross Country championships in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005, as well as the IAAF World Championships in 2003, 2005, and 2010. He has been an assistant coach at Villanova since 2004.

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