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It threatened to thunderstorm all day and was generally warm and humid all weekend, but it cooled off a bit and the sun set behind the trees just enough to be out of the women's eyes coming over the water barrier in the New Balance Women's Steeplechase at the New Balance Boston Twilight Series meet on Saturday evening.

When the gun went off, Irish national record holder Roisin "Ro" McGettigan took command and led the field through a conservative first lap. Jacqui Wentz of MIT tucked in behind her on the rail, and New Balance Boston's Stephanie Reilly was on her shoulder. Shayla Houlihan moved up to contention as well and soon it was those four separated by about 5m from Leonora Joy-Petrina of New Zealand, who was pulling away from Andrea Parker.

On the 3rd water jump, McGettigan two-footed her landing, and had to work to catch up to Houlihan, who had taken the lead, and Reilly, who were pulling away from Wentz.

McGettigan said after the race that she'd had a mental block in practice with the water jump and was just happy to be getting over the water at all Saturday night. McGettigan has struggled for the past year with anemia and has just recently been able to get her levels back up. This was her first steeplechase in 2010.

As the race progressed into the final laps, Leonora Joy-Petrina made a move from back in 5th place to overtake Reilly and Wentz. McGettigan and Houlihan continued to battle, trading leads up front.

With one lap to go, Houlihan's strength was visible as she pulled away from McGettigan and powered home for the victory and the $1000 prize purse. For the third time this year, she won in 10 minutes, 3 seconds. She is undefeated in 2010.

McGettigan finished just a couple seconds later and Joy-Petrina was third. Jacqui Wentz caught Stephanie Reilly for 4th, PR-ing yet again after doing the same last weekend to win the DIII Championship.

Final Results: (from http://www.nbbtwilight.com/)

  1 Shayla Houlihan              Women Talk Sports     10:03.73

  2 Roisin McGettigan            New Balance           10:07.36

  3 Leonora Joy-Petrina          Saucony/Sayv          10:11.16

  4 Jacqueline Wentz             MIT                   10:13.28 (PR)

  5 Stephanie Reilly             NB Boston             10:20.55

  6 Andrea Parker                Women Talk Sports     10:26.19

  7 Dana Buchanan                New Balance           10:55.66

  8 Lesley Higgins               New York AC           11:02.58

  9 Lydia Willemse               Canada                11:13.21

 10 Stephanie Perleberg          Women Talk Sports     11:44.38 

Check out the race video here, courtesy of Flotrack:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Check out the post-race interview with winner Shayla Houlihan here:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Stay tuned for an interview with Ro McGettigan about getting tested for anemia and treating it as quickly as possible!

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• New Balance Women's Steeplechase at the NB Boston Twilight Meet

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