USATF Press Release
May 6, 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 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.
