Did you know a Viewpoint teacher has just recently won a world championship in the 4X400 track and field event? Our beloved Dr. Clarke has perhaps the most interesting experiences and stories out of anybody at Viewpoint School. Her team managed to clinch the number one spot in the aforementioned 4×400 relay event, smashing the longstanding United States record, while only narrowly coming short of the world record, missing it by less than half a second!
Dr. Clarke’s intense desire to win a world championship started when she was 15. Growing up on 17 acres of farmland in rural Tennessee, she doesn’t recall knowing much about women’s sports until she saw the Girls’ Junior Olympics. This moment was the catalyst for a 45 year long track career that shows no sign of slowing down today. Seeing girls competing in sporting events empowered Dr. Clark, giving her the idea and resolution that, one day, she would win a world championship. So, this very day, she grabbed a pair of her brother’s running shoes and started running around the woods near her house because there were no formal track programs near her. That same year Dr. Clarke ran her first 26.2 mile marathon, the following year she ran at the New York City marathon. Taking the Greyhound from Knoxville to NY she was quickly becoming a fast runner.
Following this, Dr. Clarke stuck with only distance running, because she didn’t have any connections to track programs. So, she continued running half marathons and marathons, while also taking on ultra marathons with her husband, who was a tenured Ultra-Marathoner himself. Even still, she had never forgotten her dream of being a track runner. She continued running in marathons until 49 but she had not forgotten the original reason she started running. She wanted to win a world championship in the senior olympics.
Her first time at the National Senior Championship her team finished bronze in the 4×400 event. The next year, she had to overcome many obstacles to achieve the gold medal, one of which being an injury that prohibited her from training, only allowing her around 3-4 months prior to the event. As a dedicated athlete, Dr. Clarke has had to deal with injuries throughout her life. Another challenge that the senior team had to face was a teammate that could not recognize faces. She had a condition that prevented her from recognizing faces. The handoff point during relays can become crowded and hectic, and they didn’t want a mixup at the handoff spot. To avoid this, Dr. Clarke and her teammates would wear arm sleeves on the same arm. This meant that in the stressful and critical handoff zone the teammate would not have an issue. During the event Dr. Clarke had to deal with mind games from other teams. The British team was spreading a rumor about the fact that they planned on changing the order of which their runners would be lined up in, and this made Dr. Clarke stressed. However, she reminded herself that it doesn’t matter what the other teams are doing, saying “You should focus on your race and doing the best you can”. She absolutely did just that. Dr. Clarke modestly mentioned while we were interviewing her that she made up a five second gap from the leading team! To people that aren’t track runners, a five second gap is massive and proves Dr. Clarke is a force to be reckoned with. That achievement is extremely significant and something most of us would be bragging about. However, our amazing Dr. Clarke was quite humble about this feat, only mentioning it for about 5 minutes during our very first class and never speaking about it again. Although she had just recently gotten off of a long flight back to the USA, she came into the classroom battle hardened and jet lagged, but nevertheless ready and excited to enlighten our young minds.
