Athletics: Fitness and heat end Games for runner

Fiona Crombie walks off the track at Bendigo yesterday. Picture / Mark Mitchell

BENDIGO - Steeplechaser Fiona Crombie was pulled from the Commonwealth Games team yesterday after falling victim to the Victorian heat and a hard-nosed selection policy.

Crombie struggled through four laps of what was to be a 7 1/2-half lap, 3000m solo run doubling as a fitness test.

Needing to show she was over the foot injury which has hindered her Games' preparation, Crombie, 23, struggled in the heat and walked off the track visibly upset.

"I have pulled her out of the team," said Athletics New Zealand performance manager Eric Hollingsworth.

"Some days you can laugh, on others you cry," said Hollingsworth. "Today is one when you cry."

"It wasn't the foot, just the heat," said Crombie. "But, sorry, I'm not meant to comment."

Hollingsworth, with a reputation of being hard-nosed in selection matters, said he had taken the heat into account before making the call he obviously had not wanted to make.

"I could see the lap times going down very quickly," he said.

"She was running 80s whereas in Melbourne last Thursday they were closer to 70s.

"With the training she's missed and the form she's in she's unlikely to come back to be competitive in a world-class field," he said. "Realistically it's about competition and cultures as well as trying to feel for the athlete. It's been a very difficult call for me, but that's what I'm paid to do.

"Fiona will be heading home but we will go through an exit procedure which includes some counselling.

"She basically agrees with me."

Hollingsworth said Crombie, who attends Providence College in Rhode Island, will also be withdrawn from the team for April's World Cross Country Championships, leaving New Zealand with just four runners.

"It is still a strong team," said Hollingsworth.

"But there will be added pressure now as all four runners must finish for the team to count."

Fellow 3000m steeplechase hope Rebecca Forlong, who too had been hampered by a foot injury in recent weeks, has been given the all clear to join Kate McIlroy in the Games after a scan showed no stress fracture.

"She trained yesterday," said Hollingsworth.

"She will be okay to compete."

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