Eight Olympians Entered in the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile on September 30
Signature sponsor Reebok, in conjunction with NYRR, offering a total prize purse of $20,000 and other exciting incentives for runners

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Posted Monday, 25 September, 2006

NEW YORK - (September 21, 2006) - U.S. Olympians Adam Goucher, Gabe Jennings, Anthony Famiglietti and Carrie Tollefson will be joined by New Zealand Olympians Nick Willis and Kim Smith along with Canadian Olympian Kevin Sullivan in the 2006 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, a New York Road Runners event on Saturday, September 30. Nearly 3,000 people will line up for one of the premier road racing events in the world, which has been run every year since its inception in 1981.

New this year, signature sponsor Reebok is providing a $20,000 total prize purse for the men's and women's professional races, shirts for all participants and gift certificates for the top three male and female finishers in each age group. The top men's and women's professional finishers will each receive $4000, with $2500 going to second place, $1500 for third, $1250 for fourth and $750 for fifth.

In addition to Reebok's incentives, title sponsor Continental Airlines is donating a total of 280,000 OnePass miles to winners.

"The race is on for the title of winner of the world's most famous mile race," said New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. "We welcome Reebok with open arms as they provide pivotal financial, athletic and marketing muscle to enable us to host this world-class field of athletes and elevate the experience for runners of all ages and abilities."

The Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile begins on Fifth Avenue near East 80th Street and finishes one mile south on Fifth Avenue at East 60th Street. The wheelchair and handcycle race kicks off the event beginning at 9:00am. After that, entrants run in heats according to age and gender. The professional women's race is scheduled to start at 12:31pm, followed by the professional men's race, the 14th and final race of the day, at 12:45pm.

Goucher, who currently resides in Portland, Ore., ran the 5000 meters at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. This year, he won the USA Indoor Championships 3000 meters (7:49.78) and the USA Cross Country Championships 4K (10:50) and placed 6th at World Cross Country 4K Championship last April in Japan. His personal best time in the mile is 3:54.17.

Jennings, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. competed in the 1500 meters at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The Team Running USA athlete has had an impressive season so far this year with a runner-up finish at the USA Track & Field Championships 1500 meters (3:39.42) and a fourth place showing in the same event at the IAAF World Cup in Athletics (3:55.09).

New York City resident Famiglietti stepped back from his trademark event, the 3000 meter steeplechase, which made him a U.S. Olympian in 2004, and explored different distances in 2006. The move resulted in some of the best running of his career, and he established seven personal bests on the roads and tracks. He finished fourth in last year's Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, passing Olympic medalist Rui Silva in the final meters. Famiglietti's personal best mile time of 3:55.71 was set in New York earlier this year at the Reebok NYC Grand Prix mile.

Sullivan competed in the 2004 Athens Games in the 1500 meters and is back after placing eighth in the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile last year (4:01.4). Willis captured gold at this spring's Commonwealth Games in Australia, beating out friend and training partner Nate Brannen of Canada, who is also entered in this year's race. A sub-four-minute miler (3:59.85) in high school, Brannen owns the Canadian record for the indoor mile (3:55.11), which he set in Boston in 2005.

Other men challenging for this year's Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile title include Jason Lunn (Longmont, Colo.), who won the 2000 event in a time of 4:03.9; Matt Tegenkamp (Madison, Wis.) who earlier this year became the first athlete to break the four-minute-mile barrier in the state of Wisconsin, running 3:56.38, and in July became the fourth fastest U.S. 5000 meter runner ever (13:04.90) at the DN Galan meeting in Stockholm; Kenya's Elkanah Angwenyi, the 2006 World Indoor 1500 meter bronze medalist and top returnee from last year's Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile (third, 3:54.3) and 2004 U.S. 1500 meter Olympian Grant Robison are also slated to run.

On the women's side, Tollefson finished fourth at last year's Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. The St. Paul, Minn. resident was a 2004 Olympian at 1500 meters in Athens. The Team USA Minnesota recently finished third at the USA 5K Championships in Rhode Island (15:50). Other top women's contenders include Smith, New Zealand's 5000 meter Olympian who holds New Zealand records in the mile (4:30.61) and four other distances; three-time U.S. 1500 meter champion Treniere Clement (Knoxville, Tenn.), who is looking to extend her outstanding season; 2006 national champions and Team Running USA teammates Sara Hall (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Lauren Fleshman (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), who will step down from their 5000 meter specialty; 2005 NCAA champion Megan Metcalfe of Edmonton, Ontario; Russian 2000 meter record holder Yelena Kanales and 2006 USA Indoor Championships bronze medalist Jenelle Deatherage (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Sydney Maree of South Africa set the men's record of 3:47.52 at the Fifth Avenue Mile in 1981, while PattiSue Plumer of the United States established the women's mark of 4:16.68 in 1990.

For more information, visit: NYRR.org

Contacts: Richard Finn, (212) 423-2229 | rfinn@nyrr.org or Kerrin Perniciaro, (212) 423-2294 | kperniciaro@nyrr.org, Media Relations Department, NYRR

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