M-P standout Nemra in the race of her life: the Olympics

While most middle- and long-distance runners set their career best marks in their 30s, recent Marysville-Pilchuck graduate Haley Nemra will compete in the Beijing Olympics at 18 years old.

While most middle- and long-distance runners set their career best marks in their 30s, recent Marysville-Pilchuck graduate Haley Nemra will compete in the Beijing Olympics at 18 years old.

Nemra, a cross country and track standout in her career at M-P, will compete in the women’s 800-meter run for the Marshall Islands, a small island nation located about midway between Australia and Hawaii. Her success at the South Pacific Games in 2006 earned her an invitation to represent the Marshall Islands in their first-ever Olympic delegation.

And on Aug. 14 at 8:10 p.m. Pacific time, Nemra will take to the track in the 800 prelims.

Currently, there are six heats of the race scheduled, which will begin 11:10 a.m. Beijing time on Aug. 15.

As of press time, The Globe/Times were unable to determine whether Nemra’s race would be televised. However, Olympic fans have several options to pursue sports coverage. While NBC has American broadcast rights to the games with video coverage on their Web site www.nbcolympics.com, they will show most marquee events on a tape delay. For those with access to the Canadian Broadcasting Company, the network has live television coverage and video feed at their Web site, www.cbcsports.ca.

As The Globe/Times get more information about viewing Nemra’s Olympic run, we’ll be posting it to our Web site at www.marysvilleglobe.com.