07-23-2009
Contact:
Jim Estes
Associate Director of LDR and Marketing
USA Track & Field
317-713-4661
INDIANAPOLIS - 2004 Olympic Marathon silver medalist Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.) and 2008 Olympic marathoner Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Oakland, Calif.) lead the fields for the 2009 USA 7 Mile Championships Saturday in Davenport, Iowa. The championships will be hosted by the Quad-Cities Times Bix 7.
Keflezighi, the 2009 half marathon and cross country champion, will face this year's 15 km champion Anthony Famiglietti (Knoxville, Tenn.), and 25 km champion Dan Browne (San Diego, Calif.) along with 2008 USA Half Marathon Champion James Carney (Boulder, Colo.).
Along with Boulet, the 2009 half marathon champion, contending for the women's title will be 2009 USA 25 km champion Sally Meyerhoff (Eugene, Ore.) and 2008 USA 20 km champion Jill Steffens (Athens, Ga.). Also in the race for the title will be Ilsa Paulson (New York, N.Y.), the top U.S. woman at the recent Atlanta Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race.
About the USARC
The USA 7 Mile Championships is the sixth stop for men and the fifth for women on the 2009 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 2009 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 2009 USARC has ten events each for men and 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 ($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 2009 USA 7 Mile Championships visit www.usatf.org.
