by Jim Hage

Twelve years ago, a speeding car shattered the knee and dreams of Monica Robbers, then one of New Zealand's top young tennis and basketball players. Throughout a slow and painful recovery, Robbers never guessed that another athletic life awaited her half a world away. "The accident gave my Mum and Dad quite a fright," Robbers says. "I thought I was through with sports. But I started to run during rehab, and it kind of grew on me." By channeling her natural athleticism into running, Robbers recorded track performances impressive enough to merit scholarship offers from several U.S. colleges.

Robbers left her Mum, Dad, sister, and brother behind in 1992 to pursue academia and a track career at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. "We don't have much of an intercollegiate track program at home," she explains. "Also, I thought I would be close to my friends in Washington, DC, but I didn't realize this was such a big country." Still, Robbers made the best of her stint at ETSU. She made all-southern conference eight times, and recorded PRs of 4:31 for 1,500 and 16:58 and 5,000 meters. Despite regularly "commuting" between Johnson City and Washington, Robbers earned her undergraduate degree summa cum laude, and then her master’s degree with honors in forensic science and criminology. She is currently enrolled in the doctoral program for applied sociology and justice at American University.

Since moving to Alexandria last fall, Robbers has quickly become a fixture at area road races. She joined the Northern Virginia Running Club, and trains regularly with the Tuesday night workout group at T.C. Williams High School. "My mates at the track keep me going," she claims. Robbers regularly logs 80 miles per week, via an ambitious training regimen of long and short intervals, tempo runs, and long runs. Robbers credits the University of Maryland's Dan Rincon for providing her with valuable coaching advice, and Rincon's wife, Win, with steering her through the mine field that is the D.C. social scene.

The New Zealander has even become something of an expert on local cuisine, including Generous George's in Alexandria. "Good pizza, " she claims, "but no vegemite sandwiches." After recovering from a series of injuries that sidelined her for most of the past two years, Robbers has been running regularly again only since last fall. "I've still got a long way to go," she says. Nonetheless, she has won numerous area races at distances between 5K and 10K. At the Ferndale-Linthicum 5K in May, Robbers ran 17:43, and recorded her best recent 10K time at Sallie Mae in April, running 37:13.

Off the roads, and even after her stint in Appalachia, culture shock for the 5'10" Kiwi runs mostly in reverse. "I liked the people in Tennessee, but I'm glad to be in Washington now," she says. "I'm used to living in a small country, but Tennessee was like living in a fish bowl. Washingtonians are really quite lovely," she continues. "But I can't give Americans high marks on geography. Most think I can run from New Zealand to Australia at low tide."