Mercy Athletic Trainer Appointed To USA Track & Field Medical Staff
Chris Watson will join team for International Chiba Ekiden later this month

Canton, Ohio: Chris Watson, one of Mercy's certified athletic trainers and the head athletic trainer at Malone University, was recently appointed to the USA Track & Field (USTAF) medical staff for the upcoming International Chiba Ekiden, slated for Nov. 23 in Chiba, Japan. 

Last year Watson assisted the USTAF during the Pan American Junior Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has also completed volunteer rotations at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Chiba Ekiden – one of the most prominent international ekidens (marathon-relay road race) – features mixed teams of men and women running six alternating legs that total the distance of a marathon (42.195 kilometers or 26.2 miles).

A Green, Ohio, native, Watson is in his sixth year as Malone's head athletic trainer and hopes to eventually serve as a trainer at the Olympic Games. He and his family currently reside in North Canton.

Mercy Medical Center, a nonprofit corporation of the Sisters of Charity Health System and University Hospitals Health System, operates a 476-bed hospital serving Stark, Carroll, Wayne, Holmes and Tuscarawas Counties and parts of Southeastern Ohio. It has 550 physicians on its Medical Staff and employs 2,500 people. Mercy operates outpatient health centers in Carrollton, Jackson Township, Lake Township, Louisville, North Canton and Plain Township. A Catholic hospital, Mercy Medical Center upholds the mission and philosophy of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine and continues to be responsive to the needs of the community, including the provision of care to all, regardless of their ability to pay. For more information, see www.cantonmercy.com.