U.S. Record Holders, Olympians, Defending Champions Lead Field for USA 15K Championship at Gate River Run – Keflezighi, Kastor, Hall, Russell, Browne, Dryer, McGregor and more expected; $58,000 prize purse with $5000 Equalizer Bonus

INDIANAPOLIS – Six 2004 U.S. Olympians, four of whom are past USA 15K champions, will line up this Saturday, March 10, to compete for the national titles at the 2007 USA 15K Championship in Jacksonville, Fla. This marks the 14th consecutive year that the Gate River Run – which is celebrating its 30th edition – will host the USA 15K Championship.

The field for the men’s race will see a much-anticipated rematch between 2004 Olympic Marathon silver medalist Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.), the defending and five-time USA 15K champion, and Ryan Hall (Big Bear Lake, Calif.), the 2007 USA Half-Marathon champion and U.S. record holder at that distance.

Though Hall is a relative newcomer to the road scene, the Stanford grad has taken the road running world by storm, winning the 2006 USA 20K Championship in his debut at the distance. He followed that with an 11th place finish at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships while setting a U.S. 20K record last October in Debrecen, Hungary, and earlier this year, he won the 2007 USA Half-Marathon Championship in Houston with an astounding U.S. record of 59:43, crushing a field that included Keflezighi, his Team Running USA teammate.

Keflezighi and Hall – who are prepping for the Flora London Marathon – will be joined in Jacksonville by 2007 USA Half-Marathon Championship runner-up Fasil Bizuneh (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and 2005 national 15K champion Ryan Shay (East Jordan, Mich.).

The women’s field features 2004 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.). A four-time USA 15K champion, Kastor will return to Jacksonville for the first time since 2003, when she set the current U.S. and USA Championship record of 47:15. The Team Running USA athlete will face-off against defending champion Blake Russell (Marina, Calif.) and 2004 Olympic Marathon teammate and two-time USA 15K champion Jen Rhines (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.). The trio also will likely see challenges for the title by 2007 USA Half-Marathon champion Elva Dryer (Gunnison, Colo.) and two-time USA 10K champion Katie McGregor (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Additional contenders for the men’s and women’s titles will include 2004 Olympian and 2000 USA 15K champion Dan Browne (Portland, Ore.), 2003 USA 10 Mile champ Chris Graff (Arlington, Va.), 2005 World Championships marathon team member Turena Johnson Lane (Palmetto Bay, Fla.) and 2004 Olympian Kate O’Neill (Palo Alto, Calif.). Athletes will compete for a USA Championship prize purse of $58,000, with the national champions earning $12,000 each.

This year’s race will once again feature the Equalizer Bonus, awarding $5000 to the first male or female to cross the finish line, with the top-seeded women beginning 5 minutes before the men. The 5 minute „head start“ is based on the time differential of the U.S. 15K records: 42:22 for the men (Todd Williams, 1995) and 47:15 for the women (Deena Drossin, 2003), both set on the Gate River Run course. In 2006, Keflezighi overtook Russell to win the bonus.

Additional bonuses of $10,000 will be offered for a World Record (41:29 – men; 46:55 – women); $5000 for a U.S. record (42:22 – men; 47:15 – women) and $3000 for a course record (42:22 – men; 47:15 – women).

USA Running Circuit

The USA 15K Championship is the second event of the 2007 edition of USA Track & Field’s USA Running Circuit (USARC). The USARC features USA Championships from 5K to the marathon and attracts the best U.S. distance runners, including Olympians Deena Kastor, Meb Keflezighi, Colleen De Reuck and Dan Browne. The thirteenth edition for the men and twelfth for the women, the 2007 USARC has nine events for men and seven events for women.

The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USARC race (15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1), with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6000, $4000 and $2500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall. The USARC points at the USA Marathon Championships will be doubled.

The mission of the USA Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USARC and its races have provided over $6 million dollars to U.S. distance runners.

For more information on the 2007 USA 15K Championship and the 2007 USARC, visit
USATF.org and
Gate-RiverRun.com

Source
https://www.runningusa.org/index.shtml
running usa