Keflezighi, Lewy Boulet Chase USA 7 Mile Titles at Quad-City Times Bix 7
$45,000 national championship prize purse with $10,000 for each U.S. champion

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Posted Friday, 24 July, 2009

From Ryan Lamppa, Running USA

INDIANAPOLIS - (July 23, 2009) - 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 national championships will be hosted again by the Quad-City Times Bix 7 (also 2002).

At the 35th race edition, Keflezighi (photo left, PhotoRun), 34, the 2009 U.S. half-marathon and cross country champion, will face this year's USA 15K champion Anthony Famiglietti (Knoxville, Tenn.) and USA 25K champion and training mate Dan Browne (San Diego, Calif.) along with 2008 USA Half-Marathon champion James Carney (Boulder, Colo.). Keflezighi, with 18 national titles thus far in his career, won the USA 7 Mile title at Bix in 2002.

Along with Boulet, the 2009 U.S. half-marathon champion, contending for the women's title will be 2009 USA 25K champion Sally Meyerhoff (Eugene, Ore.) and 2008 USA 20K 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.

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, a USA Track & Field road series featuring USA Championships from one mile to the marathon, 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 ($6000, $4000 and $2500) 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 more than $8 million dollars to U.S. distance runners.

For more information on the 2009 USA 7 Mile Championships, go to: www.USATF.org

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