Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi Highlight US 15k Champs at Gate River Run This Weekend By David Monti (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved March 7, 2007
Saturday's
Gate River Run 15-K in Jacksonville, Fla., will feature some of
America's best male and female distance runners vying for the U.S. 15-K
title and sizable prize and bonus money. It will be the 30th edition
of this warm weather race which last year recorded 9,241 finishers and
is the site of both U.S. 15-K records: 42:22 by Todd Williams in 1995
and 47:15 by Deena Kastor in 2003.
Olympic silver medalist, Meb
Keflezighi, has won this race five of the last six years it has been
contested has also won the race's "Equalizer" division twice. In the
Equalizer division the elite women are given a five-minute headstart
over the men, and the first athlete to cross the finish line receives a
$5,000 bonus. The overall male and female champions receive $12,000 in
prize money.
Keflezighi is indeed entered in this year's race
and is amongst the favorites, but victory is not assured for him in
either the men's or the equalizer divisions. His key rival will be
Ryan Hall, the lanky former Stanford star who crushed the North
American record for the half-marathon in his debut at the distance in
Houston on Jan. 14. On his way to the finish line in Houston in an
eye-popping 59:43, Hall passed the 15-K mark of the race (unofficially)
in 42:21, one second faster than Todd Williams's record set in
Jacksonville. If Hall can win in Jacksonville and break Williams's
record, he would be eligible for an additional $8,000 in bonuses.
In addition to Hall, other hopefuls for the podium include Fasil Bizuneh, Fernando Cabada, Andy Carlson and Jason Lehmkuhle.
The
women's race is also shaping up to be extremely competitive, led by
Kastor, the course and American record holder and the 2004 Olympic
marathon bronze medalist. Kastor has been in great form so far this
year, easily winning the U.S. Cross Country Championships last month
then laying down a 31:09 10-K leg at the Yokohama Ekiden on February
26. In addition, she looks like the favorite to win the Equalizer
bonus: if she ran 47:30, the men's winner would have to run faster than
42:30 to beat her to the finish line, nearly an American record run.
Also
in the field is two-time champion, Jen Rhines; defending champion,
Blake Russell; recently crowned U.S. half-marathon champion, Elva
Dryer; last year's U.S. 25-K champion, Turena Johnson Lane; 2005 U.S.
10,000m champion Katie McGregor; and 2004 Olympian, Kate O'Neill.
"If
we can hold it (the field) 'till race day we have a great bunch running
this year," long time race director Doug Alred wrote in an e-mail
message.
Open prize money is reserved for eligibile U.S. athletes as follows: $12,000-5,000-3,000-2,000-1,000-900-800-700-600-500.
The Equalizer bonus is $5000, and bonuses for World ($10,000),
American ($5,000) and course ($3,000) records are also on offer. An
athlete who wins the race, plus the Equalizer bonus and sets a world
record in the process would receive $35,000.
The complete entry list of athletes is below:
MEN - Fasil Bizuneh Dan Browne Kevin Burke Fernando Cabada Andrew Carlson James Carney Henry Dennis Matt Folk Pete Gilmore Chris Graff David Gramlich Simon Gutierrez (40+) Ryan Hall Jason Harmann Stephan Hass Dan Kahn Daniel Kanyuaruhuru Meb Keflezighi Leo Kormanik Scott Larson Jason Lehmkuhle Brandon Leslie Matt Levassiur Chris Lundstrom Celedonio Rodriguez Chris Seaton Ryan Shay Nick Stanko Edwardo Torres Sean Wade (40+) Ryan Woods Justin Young
WOMEN - Samia Akbar Ann Alyanak Alvina Begay Christine Bolf Stephanie Bylander Jenny Crain Jenna Darcy Elva Dryer Emily Field Kristen Fryburg Zoila Gomez Deena Kastor Janelle Kraus Turena Johnson Lane Kathryn Masselam Emily McCabe Katie McGregor Lindsey Mills Sylvia Mosqueda (40+) Kate O'Neill Kim Pawelek Kristin Price Jen Rhines Kara Roy Blake Russell Kara Storage Tara Storage
