Jamaica's gold medallist, Brigitte Foster-Hylton (front), leads team member and Lacena Golding-Clarke (centre) and Canada's silver medallist, Angela Whyte (right), during the women's 100m hurdles final at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. - Reuters

GORDON WILLIAMS, Contributor

auburn, alabama

Her man runs around - been doing it before she met him. Yet Lacena Golding-Clarke not only understands, she motivates him to continue ... because she does it too. And he responds in exactly the same way.

Running around - on the athletic track - is both the pleasure and business of Lacena and her husband Davian Clarke. Talent and hard work have kept the couple in the sport long enough to contend for places on Jamaica's talent-laden teams to world class meets for a decade.

They have done it together before - for example the 1999 World Championships of Athletics (WCA) and last year's Common-wealth Games. A string of medals, including Lacena's 1999 CAC and '02 Commonwealth gold medals and Davian's relay golds at the 2003 Pan-Am Games and '04 World Indoor Championships, prove their quality.

In June, the former teenage sweethearts, who first met at local high school meets such as Champs and Gibson Relays and continued their relationship while students in the United States, will again compete at the national trials.

On the line are spots at the WCA in Japan this summer. Yet after seven years of marriage, theirs is still a rare story: spouses in the same profession, working at the same "office", pursuing the same dream. And while specialty lines divide them in competition - Davian is a quarter-miler, Lacena a sprint hurdler and long jumper - there are few other boundaries.

"Whatever I do, good or bad, he's always there for me," says Lacena, who trains with Davian here, "in my little corner, and it works vice versa, for both of us."

EXPECTATION

Davian Clarke (left) with teammate Sanjay Ayre after a Jamaican quartet won the Men's Olympic Development 4x400m relay at the 2005 Penn Relays. - file photos

That support is matched by the steep price of expectation. It means pushing each other to optimum performance.

"We have to work hard and we kinda compete against each other to see who can do better in their event," Davian explains. "But it's good having somebody who understands you and can support you."

It does not mean being consumed by the sport. When the "work" is done they return to life as husband and wife.

"When we go home we (talk about track)," says Lacena. "But track things usually stay on the track."

The Clarkes are not star struck by a sport which dangles instant fame like carrot from a stick. And while athletic satisfaction plays a big role in what they do, everyday reality demands that they do it well.

"We expect to come home with our pay cheque," says Lacena. "Even if it's not a pay cheque, with something performance-wise, like a p.r. (personal record) or something. So we always go out there and try to come back with more than we go out with."

This year is going to be as difficult to do that as any other. While Davian believes Jamaica's talent in the men's 400 metres has fluctuated, he understands he must peak to make Jamaica's team. He skipped most of the indoor season to concentrate on WCA preparations and plans to run his first race of the outdoor season at a meet here on April 21. Then it's on to the Jamaica Invitational International meet in early May before the trials. Lacena has a similar schedule, but she is locked in a fiercer battle. The 100 metres hurdles has been called Jamaica's most talent-rich event.

"Jamaicans are so good in the hurdles," she explains. "You have like five, six people running under 13 seconds. So it is going to be hard."

The 32-year-old's task is also more urgent. While Davian, 30, refused to predict when he will quit track, his wife has a clear timetable. The WCA and 2008 Olympics will be her swansong. She has other ideas - like adding to the family - which cannot be shelved for much longer.

"Dave and I have been planning for a long time (for children)," she says. "For me, the next two years will be my last years running track ... We know the point where we should stop."

For now, romance between each other and track continues unbridled for the Clarkes. It's a team effort, they claim.

"We're together and everything that we do is for our benefit," explains Davian. "So we just encourage each other and regardless of what's happening we just stay focused. Because for either one of us success is good for all of us."

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.