FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Keflezighi, Huddle Lead Fields in Davenport for USA 7 Mile Championships
INDIANAPOLIS - 2004 Olympic Marathon silver medalist Meb Keflezighi (San
Diego, Calif.) and Molly Huddle (Providence, R.I.) will face loaded fields
in Davenport, Iowa Saturday as they seek to defend their titles at the 2010
USA 7 Mile Championships. The championships will be hosted for the second
consecutive year by the Quad-City Times Bix 7.
Keflezighi, the 2009 half marathon, marathon and cross country champion
will face U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon champion Ryan Hall (Big Bear Lake,
Calif.), as well as champions from four out of five of this year's USA
Running Circuit events. Leading the charge of 2010 champions will be
recent USA Men's 10 km champion Ed Moran (Williamsburg, Va.) and Mo Trafeh
(Duarte, Calif.), this year's USA 15 km champion and runner-up and the 10
km championships. Also on the start line will be USA Half Marathon champion
Antonio Vega (Minneapolis, Minn.) and USA 25 km champion Andrew Carlson
(Flagstaff, Ariz.).
One of Huddle's main challengers will be Iowa native and NCAA 5,000 and
10,000 meter champion Lisa Koll (Ames, Iowa). Huddle and Koll are both
coming off strong 5,000 meter races at the Meeting Areva in Paris, France,
where they ran personal bests of 14:51.84 and 14:55.74 respectively.
Also challenging Huddle and Koll will be 2008 Olympic marathoner Magdalena
Lewy Boulet (Oakland, Calif.); Amy Hastings (Flagstaff, Ariz.), the
third-place finisher at the 2010 USA Cross Country Championships; 2004
Olympic marathoner Blake Russell (Pacific Grove, Calif.); and Rebecca
Donaghue (State College, Pa.), the runner-up at the 2009 USA Women's 10 km.
Video highlights
The USA 7 Mile Championships will be streamed live beginning at 8:00 a.m.
CST in cooperation with RunnerSpace.com at www.USARunningCircuit.com.
About the USARC
The USA 7 Mile Championships is the sixth stop for men and the fifth for
women on the 2010 USA Running Circuit (USARC) and will pay $45,000 in U.S.
prize money with $10,000 going to the respective men's and women's
champions.
The USARC is a USA Track & Field road series, featuring USA Championships
from one mile to the marathon and attracts the best U.S. distance runners.
The circuit features ten events each for men and women. Trafeh now leads
the men's standings with 27 points and Katie McGregor (Saint Louis Park,
Minn.) leads the women with 30 points.
The 2010 USARC will once again see a record amount of circuit prize money
for a non-Olympic year with total prize purse of $623,850 offered by host
events. U.S. athletes will also have the opportunity to qualify for various
Team USA events, including the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and
the Chiba International Ekiden.
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 ($6,000, $4,000, and $2,500) 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 2010 USA 7 Mile Championships visit
www.USARunningCircuit.com.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and
field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF
encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched
events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school
participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United
States.
For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org
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