By Chris Cook

Longwood University

Back home, more than 1,500 miles from the blistering heat of Cozumel, Mexico, some of Catherine Hanson’s biggest fans huddled in a conference room, squinting at a grainy live video stream of the 2016 International Triathlon Union World Championships.

Coffee and bagels disappeared as her Longwood University athletics co-workers and runners waited patiently to get a glimpse of their head cross country coach as she swam, biked and ran alongside — and in front of — her peer triathletes from all around the globe.

When Hanson finally made her appearance on the pixelated broadcast on Sept. 15, it was for a mere eight seconds, but her red, white and blue Team USA singlet and steady, textbook stride were unmistakable.

Back in Longwood’s Tabb Hall, the university’s athletics hub, cheers erupted first from down the hall in the cross country locker room, where her men’s and women’s runners had gathered to watch their 10th-year head coach race on the biggest stage of her career. More applause followed soon after from the conference room when the announcer called her name as she crossed the finish line: “Catherine Hanson, USA.”

That brief cameo on the ITU broadcast was a mere fraction of the career race for Hanson, who placed 20th in the world for her 45-49 age group in the world sprint triathlon championship with a time of one hour, 18 minutes and 38 seconds. That included top-25 times in both the swim and run portions and the fifth-fastest overall time of the 13 Team USA runners in her division. She barreled past the finish line ahead of 40 of her age-group competitors with her USA flag waving.

“20th in the world!” she texted little more than an hour after her finish, final results sheet in hand.

“I was hoping for a top-20 finish, and I hit that right on the nose,” she added. “I had the best swim of my career, and I was able to do that racing for the first time in an open-water swim in saltwater in the Gulf of Mexico. I had a personal best in the bike segment too, also racing in my first draft-legal venue.”

That performance came on a day when temperatures peaked at 109 degrees by the time she began the final run portion of the race. Three of her age-bracket counterparts did not finish, two failing to make it to the bike leg and one coming up short of the run.

But while Hanson’s recorded time was just over an hour, the pinnacle of the former Mount St. Mary’s runner’s competitive career was years in the making. She became a member of the USA triathlon team a little more than a year ago when she qualified at the USA Sprint Triathlon National Championship, placing 13th out of 81 entries to earn a trip to Cozumel’s world title series.

But her journey to becoming an international triathlete goes back even further. Hanson may not have found herself pounding pavement on an international stage, or even competing as a sprint triathlete, if not for the tragic diagnosis she received in 2010.

“Five years ago, when I finished chemo treatments and surgeries for esophageal cancer, I never would have envisioned being on the platform and competing at such high levels as I am today,” she said.

After a lingering, years-long throat irritation finally gave her cause for concern, doctors determined Hanson was suffering from Barrett’s Syndrome, a type of throat cancer caused in part by chronic acid reflux.

The diagnosis and ensuing treatment, which included chemotherapy and surgery, was enough to slow Hanson down but not enough to stop her.

It was, in fact, the cancer that initially forced Hanson to detour from her marathon training and adopt a more cross-discipline training regimen. When, in the midst of chemotherapy treatments, she was unable to power through her once-standard 70-mile running weeks, she opted to start swimming as a way to maintain her physical and mental fitness.

As her cancer remised and the treatment wound down, Hanson swam faster and got her legs back under her. She purchased a used bike, began cycling around Farmville and — one triathlon later — became a full-fledged triathlete.

“We’re all proud of Catherine,” said Longwood’s 11th-year Athletics Director Troy Austin, who hired Hanson to direct the Longwood cross country program in April 2007. “Her journey since her initial diagnosis back in 2010 has been an inspiration on many levels. A lot of people may be shocked to see somebody who has endured what Catherine has still competing at such a high level, but it’s no surprise for those of us who have seen how dedicated she is to her craft.”