Running USA advances the growth and success of the running industry in America.
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In this edition:
The 10 Best Moments for U.S. Distance Running in 2011
Competitor Group Signs as Running USA 2012 Presenting Sponsor and More
Rae Clark: 2011 American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame Inductee
2011 Nationwide Insurance Columbus Marathon Generated $13 Million in Economic Impact
UPCOMING EVENTS
Join Running USA today and have your event listed here, as well as on www.RunningUSA.org
Christmas Day - Joyful 5K, St. Paul, MN, December 25
Emerald Nuts Midnight Run, New York, NY, December 31
First Run Burlington, Burlington, VT, January 1, 2012
PT Solutions Resolution Run, Kennesaw, GA, January 1
New Year's Day Hopeful 5K, St. Paul, MN, January 1
Resolution Run 5K & Polar Bear Dive, Seattle, WA, January 1
Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, Lake Buena Vista, FL, Jan 6-8
Disney Family Fun Run 5K, WDW Half-Marathon and Marathon
Ragnar Relay Florida Keys, Miami, FL, January 6
Red Nose Run, Birmingham, AL, January 7
Mississippi Blues Marathon, Jackson, MS, January 7
USA 100K Trail Championships, Bandera, TX, January 7
96th Jackson Day 9K Race, New Orleans, LA, January 8
U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Houston, TX, January 14
2012 London Olympic Games qualifier
Avalon Benefit 50 Mile Run, Avalon, CA, January 14
Marathon Bahamas Weekend, Nassau, BAH, January 14-15
St. Pete Beach Classic Half-Marathon, St. Petersburg, FL, Jan 15
Louisiana Marathon & Half, Baton Rouge, LA, January 15
40th Chevron Houston Marathon, TX, January 15
Aramco Houston Half-Marathon & El Paso Corporation 5K
P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2, Phoenix, AZ, Jan 15
13.1 Los Angeles, CA, January 15
Maui Paradise Marathon, Kihei, Maui, HI, January 15
Running USA 2012: The Industry Conference, Houston, TX, Jan 15-17
"Passing the Torch: Running Toward the Future"
The 10 Best Moments for U.S. Distance Running in 2011
Another year of medals, records and top performances
By Ryan Lamppa, Running USA wire
Every year since 2000, the year of U.S. distance running's nadir, it has been more and more difficult to earn a spot in the Top 10 Moments of the Year. A performance that 5-7 years ago warranted a Top 10 rank now merits honorable mention, and 2011 was collectively one of the deepest years yet as U.S. distance runners continued their ladder of success with more World Championship medals, broken records and top performances on the track, roads and turf and in the mountains.
The impressive 2011 performances by U.S. distance runners should serve as a springboard for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and Team USA will likely have several true medal contenders at nearly every distance event and no distance medal(s) or near medals in London would be a surprise and a disappointment.
Below are the 10 Best Moments for U.S. Distance Running in 2011.
#10 - tie
Verzbicas Smashes U.S. High School 2 Mile Record at Pre
At the Prefontaine Classic on June 4, youth superstar Lukas Verzbicas shattered the U.S. high school 2 mile record with his 8:29.46. The Illinois resident ran in the Open race and finished 11th overall. The previous record was 8:34.40 by German Fernandez in 2008.
#10 - tie
Team USA Strikes Double Gold at World Mountain Running Championship
At the 27th World Mountain Running Championship, held on September 11 in Tirana, Albania, Max King and Kasie Enman won world titles - the first U.S. men's podium topper since Jay Johnson in 1989 and the first U.S. women's individual mountain gold ever.
#9
Verzbicas' Historic High School Indoor Triple
U.S. high school superstar Lukas Verzbicas produced an incredible and historic triple at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in March. The two-time Foot Locker Cross Country champion won the 5000m (14:06.78), two mile (8:40.70) and mile (4:10.67). His 5000m time broke his U.S. Junior and national high school record from 2009 and his two mile performance just missed Gerry Lindgren's 46-year-old national record of 8:40.00. In a word, wow!
#8
Team USA Wins Gold, Silver at IAU 100K World Championship
At the 25th IAU World Championship in Winschoten, NED in September 10, Team USA won gold and silver medals - the first team gold for U.S. men ever. Michael Wardian and Andrew Henshaw led the U.S. men's contingent with silver and bronze individual medals respectively, while 50-year-old Meghan Arbogast was the top U.S. woman in fifth place.
#7
Rupp Sets U.S. Indoor 5000m Record
At the Aviva Grand Prix Indoor in Birmingham, Great Britain on February 19, Galen Rupp finished second to Briton's Mo Farah in the 5000 meters with his 13:11.44, surpassing Bernard Lagat's 2009 U.S. record by just 6/100ths of a second. Farah set a British record (13:10.60).
#6
Lagat Sets U.S. Two Mile Indoor Record
At the NYRR Saturday Night at The Armory III on February 12, Bernard Lagat broke Doug Padilla's nearly 21-year-old U.S. indoor two mile record, clocking 8:10.07. The two-time Olympic 1500m medalist ran halves of 4:08.1 and 4:02.0. Behind him, 18-year-old Lukas Verzbicas nearly broke Gerry Lindgren's nearly 47-year-old U.S. high school record of 8:40.0. The two-time Foot Locker Cross Country champion went out aggressively (4:14 for his first mile), but slowed in the second half to clock 8:43.24. Still, his time ranks #3 on the U.S. high school list, and his 3000m split of 8:07.54 ranks #2.
#5
Flanagan, Team USA Women Bronze Medals at World Cross
In Punta Umbria, Spain last March, Shalane Flanagan, 29, earned the bronze medal at the World Cross Country Championships and led the U.S. Senior women's team to a repeat bronze medal finish. The 2008 Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist, who improved on a 12th place finish at the 2010 worlds, ran 25:10 over the 8K loop course. Her medal was the first U.S. individual medal since Deena Kastor's silver medal at the 2003 world cross.
Team USA placed three more runners in the top 20 with Molly Huddle, Magdalena Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell finishing 17th, 18th and 19th in 26:26, 26:27 and 26:30 respectively.
#4
Lagat Sets Another U.S. 5000m Record
At the Herculis Meeting in Monaco on July 22, Bernard Lagat ran 12:53.60 to break his U.S. 5000 meter record set in 2010. Lagat, 36, finished second overall behind Great Britain Mo Farah's world leading 12:53.11.
For the Top 3 Moments of 2011 and the Honorable Mention, CLICK HERE.
Competitor Group Signs as Running USA 2012 Presenting Sponsor and More
Leading national event company to also present Running USA Hall of Champions Dinner and to be Official Media and Event Entertainment Partner of Running USA
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - (December 20, 2011) - Running USA, the national industry non-profit organization, has announced Competitor Group as a presenting sponsor of Running USA 2012: The Industry Conference. The 9th edition will be held at the Hyatt Regency Houston on January 15-17, and this year's theme is "Passing the Torch: Running Toward the Future".
"Running USA and Competitor Group share common goals: to grow and promote the sport, and we welcome and thank them as a presenting sponsor of Running USA 2012 as well as our Hall of Champions Dinner and Auction presenting sponsor. In addition to our annual conference, Competitor Group is now the Official Media and Event Entertainment Partner of Running USA for the next three years," said Susan Weeks, Running USA CEO.
"We are proud to support Running USA and their successful track record of advancing the sport and promoting the running industry," said Scott Dickey, President of Competitor Group. "It is an exciting time for all of endurance sports and we know the active lifestyle offers benefits to every American. We look forward to contributing to the further development and participatory growth throughout the industry at the 2012 Conference in Houston."
Register today for Running USA 2012. The conference rate is $649 for Running USA members and $849 for non-members. On-line registration, hotel, travel, schedule, news, Olympic Trials VIP package and other information for Running USA 2012 is available at: http://runningusa.org/programs/conference
About Competitor Group
Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) is the leading active lifestyle resource dedicated to promoting the sports of running, cycling and triathlon. CGI is a portfolio company of the investment firm Falconhead Capital, which specializes in growing companies in the consumer sector of the leisure and lifestyle space. CGI owns and operates more than 55 events around the world, including the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, TriRock Triathlon Series and Columbia Muddy Buddy Series; which will deliver more than 600,000 professional and amateur participants in 2012. CGI publishes four magazine titles including Velo, Inside Triathlon, Triathlete and Competitor with a combined monthly circulation of 600,000. In addition, the company hosts a captive lifestyle community online at competitor.com, delivering over 3 million monthly unique visitors and 25 million page views. CGI recently acquired and soft launched Race It Race Services, an online registration platform that provides marketing, product and other essential race services for endurance industry events of all sizes. Further information about CGI and its media properties can be found at Competitormediakit.com.
About Running USA
Running USA advances, serves, promotes and celebrates the sport of running as a clearinghouse and resource center and though its popular annual conference, Running USA wire, Running USA E-News, website, annual marathon, half-marathon and State of the Sport reports, National Runner Survey and youth fitness portal RunningRocks.com and by supporting athlete development.
Running USA's more than 350 members include events with 2-plus million finishers, race services companies, running-related media companies and organizations and the athletic industry.
In March 2009, the non-profit industry organization marked a decade of achievement to build and promote the sport. For more information, visit: RunningUSA.org or contact Ryan Lamppa at (805) 696-6232 or ryan@runningusa.org
Rae Clark: 2011 American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame Inductee
World class road, track and trail "renaissance" ultra runner still holds U.S. 24 hour track record set in 1990
Rae Clark becomes the first Ultra Hall of Fame inductee whose ultra career included a significant amount of what is today the signature element of American Ultrarunning: trail racing. Following a youth sports regimen of gymnastics and cycling, Clark's running career began in his mid-20s, when he got caught up in the "Running Boom" of the mid-1970s. Living and working in California's Silicon Valley, he found plenty of company in the Northern California hotbed of distance running. He gravitated quickly to high mileage and hard-paced workouts, tending to train with local runners who were faster than he. After only a few years of running he broke 3 hours in the 1978 San Francisco Marathon, his first attempt at the distance. Many years later, he would eventually run sub-2:30 for that "short" distance.
In 1980, Clark ran his first ultra, completing the Marysville to Sacramento 50 Mile (which would later become the Jed Smith Ultra) in just over 7 hours. That same summer he entered a race that had just emerged as the flagship event of the rapidly blossoming new sport of trail ultrarunning, the Western States 100 Mile. He finished in 6th place. Clark would become a regular frontrunner at Western States as the event grew in size and stature. He would finish it 13 times, with a best time of 17:11 and a best finishing place of 3rd. Through the early 80s he would leave his mark on other noteworthy trail ultras, winning, among others, the Grand Canyon 41-mile Double Traverse, the Timberline Trail 40 Mile, the Quicksilver 50 Mile and the Pacific Crest Trail 100 Mile. In 1985, he also won the American River 50 Mile, the premier western 50 mile race.
Throughout the 80s Rae Clark divided his best competitive efforts just about evenly between trail and road/track ultras. In 1982, he demolished the course record of the hilly, high-altitude Lake Tahoe 72-Mile road race, running 9:06:14, a time which has still not been approached in the intervening 30 years. The same year as his American River 50 win, he traveled to southern California and ran away with the Southern Pacific TAC 50 Mile Championship in 5:17:38. This performance elevated Clark to a new level. He was now among the top dozen all-time Americans at 50 miles. He soon expanded his horizons.
The following year, in Santa Rosa, CA he ran 152.2 Miles for 24 hours on the track, at that time the #2 all-time certified American performance. Later that year he ran 7:15 to finish 16th in an international field at the Torhout 100K in Belgium, and then won the AMJA 100K in Chicago in 7:18. In 1988, he took his first official USA national title, winning the 100K Championship at the Edmund Fitzgerald Ultra, breaking 7 hours for the first time. The following year he lost to 3 others in the same national championship despite breaking 7 hours again, but made history by being the 4th of 4 American men to break 7 hours in the same race. The group feat has never been duplicated since. In the late 80s/early 90s, Clark also represented the U.S. as a member of the National 100K team to the World 100K on three occasions.
By the end of the 1980s, Rae Clark's serious competitive ultra career was winding down. But he saved the best for last. In 1989, he traveled to Queens, New York where he won the USA National 100 Mile Road Championship by over an hour. His 12:12:19 remains today, over 22 years later, the fastest 100 mile ever run by an American. Then, the following year, his masterpiece: At the USA National 24-Hour Track Championship in Portland, Oregon, he won by over 23 miles with a new absolute (best of both road and track) American Record 165.3 miles, clocking 13:05 for 100 miles en route. It still stands today as the American 24-Hour Track Record. Only last year did Scott Jurek barely eclipse it (in the World Championship on a road loop course), 20 years after Clark set the bar.
Rae Clark was the first American to become a true "Renaissance Man" of the ultradistance sport, excelling at a world class level at all three race-type venues: road, track and trail. We welcome him into the American Ultra Hall of Fame.
2011 Nationwide Insurance Columbus Marathon Generated $13 Million in Economic Impact
Study conducted by Fisher College of Business measures event's impact on local community
COLUMBUS, Ohio - (December 16, 2011) - The Board of Trustees of the Nationwide Insurance Columbus Marathon and ½ Marathon have released the results of a study by the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University that shows the 2011 event's economic impact totaled more than $13 million.
According to the study, the economic impact of the event since its inception in 1980 was more than $154 million.
The study measured the event's total economic impact to central Ohio by looking at four categories: Participant and Guest Expenditures, Vendor Expenditures, Marathon & ½ Marathon Budget and Economic Benefit of Increased Fitness Levels. The financial impact of each participant to this year's race averaged $767.
"This shows that the Columbus Marathon is not only the largest marathon in Ohio, but also one of the most impactful events affecting the local economy," said Kurtis J. Roush, JD, MBA, Executive Director of Fisher Professional Services. "My team determined that on average, each dollar of participant registration dollars generated $10 of positive impact on Central Ohio. In addition to the economic benefits, we were able to document very positive externalities to the area - of the non-Ohioans who were making their first trip to Central Ohio, 89 percent stated their impression of the area was either 'positive' or 'very positive,' which is a large indicator of how the race is not only impacting the region financially but also helping to increase our positive exposure outside of our region."
The Nationwide Columbus Marathon is the third-largest sporting event in Columbus in terms of spectators and participants, behind only the Arnold Classic and OHSAA State Championships in basketball (boys and girls) and wrestling. Additionally, the $13 million economic impact generated is higher than NCAA Men's Basketball 2nd and 3rd rounds that generated more than $10 million in visitor spending.
"The Nationwide Insurance Columbus Marathon has shown its longevity and continues to grow bringing new visitors to Columbus each year. The marathon is good for our image, economic development and quality of life," said Linda Logan, executive director of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission. "While our Sports Commission has had success in bringing new sporting events to our city, the Columbus Marathon is a pillar of our sports community and continues to showcase how our city supports marquee events with strong participants, volunteers, spectators and corporate backing."
Bill Burns, Chairman of the Columbus Marathon Board of Trustees, added: "We also recognize that our impact goes beyond economics, and generates wonderful benefits in terms of the improved and sustained health of our athletes - many of whom change their life by training for and taking part in our event."
The portion of the study that tracked the economic benefits of increased fitness levels of event participants focused on central Ohioans who trained for the event and, in the process, became healthier. The study found that the estimated healthcare savings for central Ohio was $687,055 in the first year alone based on an estimated 2,005 central Ohioans becoming physically active as a result of the Columbus Marathon.
Participants were also surveyed for demographic information, residence location, retail expenditures, nonprofit fundraising, travel expenditures, food and beverage expenses and number of guests/supporters. More than 25 percent of participants responded to the survey.
The 33rd Columbus Marathon and ½ Marathon will be held on Sunday, October 21, 2012 and will have the capacity of 7,000 full Marathoners and 11,000 ½ Marathoners. Registration officially opens on January 21, 2012. The Columbus Marathon is one of the 20 largest marathons in the United States, according to Running USA, and one of the top marathons to qualify runners for the Boston Marathon.
For more information, visit www.columbusmarathon.com or call (614) 421-7866.
Contact Information
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director, ryan@runningusa.org, (805) 696-6232
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