With her win at the Snowshoe NORBA, Monique Sawicki locked up the National Marathon Series title for the second year (an incredible track record since she’s only been racing as a licensed NORBA pro those same two years). She carried a four hundred-point lead after racing five of the seven marathons and the title was virtually assured. In order to claim the title by the rules though, Sawicki, who also won the NORBA Solo 24-Hours National Championship in Spokane earlier this season, needed to compete in six of the seven total races.
Since she missed the Brian Head, Utah NORBA (for financial and time-related reasons), her last chance to get her sixth event was the marathon finals in Snowshoe. Unfortunately, although she is producing the kind of results that sponsors know will get her (and them) press, she didn’t have enough backing to pay her travel expenses. Which meant that she and husband Ron had to find a way to pay the bill themselves.
How is it that an athlete of world-class calibre, who has visibility and publicity to offer sponsors, has to work full-time to afford to compete in our sport? We talked to Sawicki (or ‘Pua’ as she's known to friends) to try and understand.
