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.
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