American Mile Record-Holder Alan Webb to Open Olympic Year at the Central Park Challenge
Race will serve as USA Men's 8K Championship; New York Road Runners announces inaugural Women's Invitational; $70,000 prize purse

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Posted Monday, 11 February, 2008

NEW YORK - (February 4, 2008) - American mile record-holder Alan Webb will make a rare appearance on the roads, opening his Olympic-year campaign at the Central Park Challenge on Saturday, March 15, it was announced by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg at the New York Track Writers weekly luncheon on Monday. The race will serve as the USA Men's 8K Championship.

Webb, a 2004 Olympian and U.S. World Championships team member in 2005 and 2007, is the first professional athlete named to a men's field that will feature a host of America's best distance runners from the mile to the marathon, and will serve as an early preview of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field this summer.

New for this year, New York Road Runners will add a Women's Invitational race, which will feature an exclusive field of top U.S. and international stars. Both races will be contested over the 8K (4.97-mile) distance on a fan-friendly criterium-style course. The event will have a total prize-money purse of $70,000.

"The heat is turning up as we head toward Beijing, and this race will be an excellent early barometer for all the athletes and fans," Wittenberg said. "What a thrill to have America's stars return to Central Park for what promises to be an intriguing race."

Webb, 25, capped a stellar 2007 track season with a road victory in the Continental Airlines® Fifth Avenue Mile in September, holding off the defending champion, Kevin Sullivan of Canada, in the closing meters to claim his first victory on the streets of New York City. (He was runner-up at the 2005 Fifth Avenue Mile.) Webb has been most successful on the track, particularly in July 2007, when he ran 3:46.91 in Brasschaat, Belgium, to better Steve Scott's 25-year-old U.S. mile record. A 2004 Olympian at 1500 meters, Webb will be a favorite in that event at the Olympic Trials in June.

"I am really excited about running the USA 8K champs," Webb said. "It will be great to start my season off by running in New York City."

The 8K race course will consist of three laps of Central Park's lower loop, starting and finishing on West Drive near Tavern on the Green. Like the men's Olympic Trials marathon in Central Park last November, the multi-loop course will allow fans to see the runners four times from ideal vantage points along the sides of the road. The NYRR 8000 people's race will be held prior to both professional races.

A $10,000 bonus will be awarded to any winner who breaks the existing U.S. 8K record of 22:04 for the men (Alberto Salazar, 1981) or 24:36 for the women (Deena Kastor, 2005). The athletes will be using this event to test their fitness in an Olympic year, and all signs point to a fast race. A mostly flat Central Park course, coupled with some of America's top talent, could put the U.S. records in jeopardy. As an added incentive, $1000 bonuses will be offered to each of the first two athletes to complete the first and second laps, provided they go on to finish the race in the top 10.

Since New York Road Runners first hosted the USA 8K Championships in 2002, the race has consistently drawn some of the top American talent and has become one of the most popular stops on the national circuit. Previous winners include 2004 Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi (2003-04) and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Kastor, who ran the then-second-fastest 8K in history to capture the 2005 title. Last year, a major snowstorm in the early-morning hours on Saturday necessitated a postponement until Sunday morning and a last-minute course change, and New York City resident Anthony Famiglietti surged away from runner-up and two-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman for the victory.

For more information, visit: www.NYRR.org

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