Following in her mother's footsteps is going to be extra special for Auckland runner Anneke Grogan this weekend.
Anneke Grogan at the national championships Photo: ALISHA LOVRICH
Grogan will compete in the World Cross Country Championships in Australia, forty years after her mother ran in the same event.
However the 26 year old did think her chances of being selected had gone after the World Championships were delayed and she started her navy career.
After meeting the qualifying criteria by finishing second at the national champs in Dunedin she was keen to replicate what her mother had done.
"I was definitely aiming for it, but then it got delayed.
"I then got into the Navy and was doing my training during the (2022) cross country nationals and missed them.
"I did decide that my career was going to be more important and running for me is just something that I get to do because I enjoy it.
Glenys Kroon at the 1983 World Cross Country Championships in England Photo: Glenys Kroon
However her performances on the track last summer, when she won the 3000m steeplechase national title, along with her win in the 5000m win in the Night of 5s in Auckland in December sealed her selection.
Her mother, Glenys Kroon, represented New Zealand in cross-country, track and road events.
She ran the World Cross Country Championships in England in 1983 and Poland in 1987.
They're not the only athletes in the family, her father Eddie was a highly regarded 800m runner, while her sister is a three-time New Zealand Mountain Running champion.
Grogan spent four years on a scholarship at Southern Methodist University in Texas, where she ran well but felt the training there didn't really work for her.
She returned with a double degree and last year joined the Royal New Zealand Navy as a psychologist.
Her mother coached her again on her return home but she's now under the guidance of Paul Hamblyn at the North Harbour Bays Club.
A lot of things lined up for Grogan... she found out about her selection on the same day as he mother's birthday.
"There was a big celebration, I guess I was hoping but wasn't expecting too much as I knew I'd missed quite a lot with my navy training.
"Mum and dad were super excited and booked tickets to go over more-or-less straight away.
"It's special to think about the history there that I'm going to be racing at the same competition and it makes me realise how incredible she was as a runner."
It's not her first international experience she ran the world secondary schools cross country champs in Malta in 2012 and then ran a few Australian championships.
This weekend Grogan is in the four-person mixed relay team with inform middle distance star Sam Tanner.
450 elite athletes from 48 countries are competing this weekend near the Mount Panorama motor racing circuit at Bathurst, with New Zealand having a team of 26, including age group runners.
While it'll be straight back to work next week, Grogan does think she'll be able to continue as top level running with the defence force very supportive of fitness an health.
