April 1, 2011
Little do the residents of the Pawtucketville section of Lowell know that every day there is an Olympic hopeful running through their neighborhood.
Over the last six years, Ruben Sanca ('09, MBA '10) has been nearly a daily fixture there, along with many UMass Lowell runners, gearing for the next meet.
Sanca's next meet, however, is so far the biggest of his life: the ABN AMRO Marathon Rotterdam on Apr. 10th in The Netherlands.
He's hoping a good showing will guide him to an even bigger one next summer: the London 2012 Olympics.
It is not a pipe dream. What Sanca needs to do is break 2 hours and 18 minutes and he will represent the Cape Verde Islands in London next summer. He is Cape Verde's hope in the Olympic marathon.
"I would definitely say he is," said Tony DaRocha, the head cross country coach at Emmanuel College who scouts and trains athletes for the Cape Verde Islands Athletics Federation. "I ran 2:23 in my prime, so I think Ruben would be the best as far as anyone here (in the U.S.), Portugal or the Cape Verde Islands."
There is a degree of pressure there, but Sanca doesn't show a trace of it. He is focused, determined and quietly confident.
"I am pretty relaxed knowing that my training is going so well," Sanca said. "I've surprised myself with what I've been able to do the last couple of weeks. I've had a lot of communication with (the Cape Verde Islands Athletics Federation) and they have given me a lot of hope."
Gardner: `Absolutely Ready'
Sanca feels good. Really good. Since fracturing his sacrum (lower backbone) in March of 2009 and treating an iron deficiency problem in December, he has run like a well-oiled Mercedes. His recent results indicate as much.
On Mar. 20, Sanca won the New Bedford Half Marathon in 1 hour, 5:25.0, leading from start to finish. "I thought I'd be tired," he explained. "But I was able to do it all alone. That was really good for me."
He also captured the Foxboro Old Fashioned 10-Mile in 50:23 on Feb. 20, again leading beginning to end. Do the math, and his results are consistent with what he is after.
"Ruben is absolutely ready to run the Olympic standard," said UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner, who has been mentoring Sanca alongside former River Hawk standout Nate Jenkins ('04).
"I'd be extremely surprised if he can't run at least that. And having done as much traveling as he has is a huge benefit. He's raced in Portugal, in Northern Ireland. This is really his third international experience racing and it's an advantage for him."
Sanca meticulously details his training regimen and his race results on his website, www.rubensanca.com, which has drawn nearly 23,000 visitors. He is in the tapering stage of training, whittling slowly down from 20-mile days and 100-plus mile weeks to allow his body to recover for Rotterdam.
He is right on track to beat 2:18. But there is a strict strategy to follow. Says Jenkins, in world class marathons there is the lead group of runners going at a 2:03 or 2:04 pace; then a `B' group that runs at a 2:11, 2:12 pace. The key for Sanca is that he gets into and remains in the `B' group.
"It's very important," said Jenkins. "When you're running alone, you're constantly wondering if you're holding the pace. So it's better to run in a group that holds the pace so that you don't have to think about it. It's like you can shut your brain off and just run. This is what you want for your first marathon. You don't want to make things tougher on yourself."
Sanca chose the Rotterdam Marathon for its flat, fast, runner-friendly course. World record attempts are common there each year and a world class field among the 25,000 is expected.
"In all honesty, if he runs over 2:15, I'd be surprised," Jenkins added. "Physically, Ruben is a really good rhythm runner. He's very good at getting in and hanging on, which translates well in a marathon."
An Accidental Marathoner
The farthest distance Sanca has competitively covered was the aforementioned New Bedford Half Marathon. But his strategy for qualifying for London 2012 is not unusual.
Jenkins took a similar approach. He ran the Austin (Texas) Freescale Marathon in 2006 - his first marathon - which qualified him for the 2007 U.S. Trials, at which he stunned the field by placing seventh despite his seed of 20th. Jenkins' success at the U.S. Trials secured his spot at the IAAF World Championship in Berlin in 2009.
"I think his training has gone really well," Jenkins said. "Ruben is a little more explosive than me. Each marathon-specific workout has gone better than the last. He is a very hardworking kid who is really good at the little things. The most important factor is staying healthy. Every runner who's done a marathon will say that."
Sanca moved to the U.S. from the Cape Verde Island of Sal when he was 12. Like most Cape Verdeans, his first love was soccer and by the time he was a sophomore at John D. O'Bryant H.S., he was regarded as one of the most promising high school players in Boston.
Competitive running wasn't on his radar. He only ran distances to stay in shape for soccer season, but soon he caught the eye of DaRocha and O'Bryant's track and field coach, Jose Ortega.
After his sophomore year, to the chagrin of his soccer teammates and coaches, he gave up soccer and focused solely on distance running.
"People were shocked that I left soccer, and most couldn't believe it," Sanca said. "Worse was when I told them I was leaving soccer for cross country, none of them even knew what cross country was."
Following an injury-riddled junior year, Sanca won the state championship as a senior, silencing any critics.
A Milestone, A Realization
Sanca's career at UMass Lowell is well-documented - four-time All-American in four events, New England Champion in five events - but it wasn't until late in his college days when he realized he could make a go of a career in running.
Sanca took a close look at some of the names of former UMass Lowell runners whose records he had surpassed - Dennis Simonaitis, Dave Dunham, Bob Hodge, each a member of the UMass Lowell Hall of Fame - who enjoyed storied careers after graduating.
"That's when I really started to believe," Sanca said. "I started thinking about running the marathon. In UMass Lowell history we've had many people finish in the top 10 in marathons, and I've broken a lot of their school records."
The CVI Athletics Federation had targeted Sanca long before. Between semesters in 2007, Sanca traveled back to his homeland to compete in the Sao Silvestre Road Race, the most prestigious road race in CVI, which he won.
"(The CVI Athletics federation) saw what he could do," said DaRocha. "It's a small country, so having worked with Ruben, it's nice he wants to represent the country and do well."
Since, Sanca represented CVI at the 2009 Lusophone Games in Lisbon, Portugal, the Olympics of sorts for Portuguese-speaking nations. He won the Oeiras Open 10K in 31:16 and took fifth in the 1,500 meters in 3:55.
During his stay in Lisbon, he spent time with Nelson Cruz, who represented CVI in the 2008 Olympic Marathon, and Antonio Zeferino, who ran the marathon for CVI in the 2004 Games.
It was Zeferino and Cruz who brought Sanca to the airport to catch his flight back to Boston. Along the way, an emotional Zeferino told Sanca he would be CVI's next Olympian.
"I thought about it a lot on the plane back to the U.S.," he noted. Sanca often finishes races draped in the blue of the CVI flag. "He has a lot of pride in being Cape Verdean," Gardner noted.
No Future Plans
Not for a lack of preparation, Sanca has no plans yet to race after Rotterdam, not even a backup plan in case 2:18 eludes him. "We're just going to see what happens and plan from there," he said, grinning.
Sanca flies to Belgium on Apr. 6, where he will stay with his uncle, Francisco Evora, a former CVI national road race champion, and adapt to the European time zone. On the ninth, they will make the one-hour's drive to Rotterdam, spend the night and race on the 10th.
Sanca then returns to Boston on the 11th. He will change flights both ways in London, symbolically, believing it won't be his last visit there.
