Laena Romond won the Garden of Life Palm Beaches Women's Half Marathon
The 2002 Cacchione Cup winner excels in riding and running.
Gladys, Va. – Dec. 23, 2024 – Normally, on a December morning, Heritage Farm trainer Laena Romond would be schooling horses, prepping for a show day in Wellington, Florida, where the program is based during the winter months. But on December 15, Romond instead found herself in race gear in downtown West Palm Beach, about to run a half marathon–and win. She finished the 13.1-mile race in 1 hour and 24 minutes, as the fastest woman.
“I signed up for the [Garden of Life Palm Beaches Women’s Half Marathon] at the last minute,” she said. “We ended up scratching a couple horses that were going to show Sunday morning, and that freed me up to go run the race.”
Romond, originally from Colchester, Vermont, has been running since high school, where she was on the cross country and track team. “I had always been a recreational runner as an adult and decided to run my first marathon in 2018.”
The Mount Holyoke alumna has been part of Andre Dignelli’s Heritage Farm training team since shortly after graduating cum laude in 2007 with a degree in biochemistry. While in college, Romond rode on the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association team under coach CJ Law.
“For me back then, and for plenty of kids these days, the academic program was also a major factor in where I wanted to go to college,” said Romond. “Mount Holyoke was a great fit because they had a competitive riding program and a very strong record of promoting women in scientific fields. I really wanted both, because at that point I wasn’t sure whether my career would be in horses, and I wanted to put myself in the best position possible to potentially go on to graduate school and pursue a career in research.”
In 2002, as a freshman, Romond won the coveted Cacchione Cup at IHSA Nationals at Cazenovia (New York). “One of my favorite memories with CJ was doing vaulting lessons at the end of the season. The horses there were so wonderful and versatile, and it was really cool to experience an entirely different sport on horseback.”
Laena Romond and Wisky, owned by Catherine Cowie at the 2024 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships. Photo by Shawn McMillen
After winning the Palm Beaches Half Marathon, she returned to the barn and got back in the saddle. Although Romond’s career is based around horse training, she regularly–if not daily–adds running to her own training regime. “I try to get a run in before work as many days as possible, just because it’s easier to get up early and check it off the list than save it for the end of the day when I’m tired or my day might run late,” she explained. “On a show day, this usually means a 3:00 a.m. wake up, coffee and out the door by 3:45. I am usually on my first horse at 6:00 a.m. at the show, and when I’m done with my morning rides, I will walk courses, put kids in the ring or show horses myself. There are a lot of rings in Wellington, so even with a big team our days are always busy. When the showing is done, we write up the board with everyone’s plan for the next day, and if it’s not too late I will sometimes get a short second run in or go to the gym.”
Romond advocates for her junior students to consider joining the IHSA team when they go to college. “The IHSA is so unique in that it allows riders to compete on a team who maybe haven’t had the opportunity to compete at the highest level previously. We’ve had students who showed in a moderate way as juniors go on to excel and work their way up the ranks in the IHSA system,” Romond said. “For some of them, there would not have been a path forward in riding without the IHSA.”
Laena Romond and CJ Law at Mount Holyoke in 2017 when she visited as a clinician. Photo courtesy of Laena Romond.