Rowbury, Rankin lead fields for inaugural USA 1 Mile Road Championships
Posted Thursday, 7 May, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS - 2008 Olympian Shannon Rowbury (San Francisco, Calif.) and Jon Rankin (San Diego, Calif.) lead the fields for the inaugural USA 1 Mile Road Championships Thursday night in Minneapolis, Minn. The event will be hosted through 2012 by the Medtronic TC 1 Mile.
Rowbury, the 2008 Olympic Trials 1,500 meter champion, leads a women's field that includes local favorite Carrie Tollefson (St. Paul, Minn.), a 2004 Olympian at 1,500 meters. Also in contention for the women's title will be Sara Hall (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Jenelle Deatherage (Saint Louis Park, Minn.).
While Rankin owns the fastest time in the men's field (3:54.24), he'll have to contend with six other men with sub-four minute personal bests for the mile. With respective bests of 3:57.04 and 3:57.20 David Torrence (Oakland, Calif.), the 2009 USA Indoor 3,000 meter champion, and Bobby Curtis (Ardmore, Pa.), the 2008 NCAA Division I 5,000 meter champion, will be among the lead contenders for the title along with Darren Brown (Austin, Texas), the recent champion at the B.A.A. Invitational Mile.
Athletes will compete for a total prize purse of $22,500, with the men's and women's USA Champion earning $4,000 each. This year's race will also feature an additional $10,000 bonus for the men's and women's champions if they run faster than 4:00 and 4:28 respectively.
Video highlights
Video highlights of the USA 1 Mile Road Championships and pre- and post-race video interviews with top athletes will be made available in cooperation with www.Flotrack.com.
About the USARC
The USA 1 Mile Road Championship is the third stop on the 2009 USA Running Circuit (USARC). The 2009 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 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 ($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 and video highlights from the 2009 USA 1 Mile Road Championships visit www.usatf.org.
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