I am organizing the team race for Gate River Run.
5 things I would like to clarify
1.) Team competition will absolutely abide by USATF rules.
2.) YES - we will have the best. I believe there was a comment that "superelites don't belong to clubs". Nothing could be further from the truth. Look at the Runners with Salazar and Schumacher at Nike OTC (Rupp, Goucher, Rohatinsky, Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Riley). Look at the runners with Brad Hudson at Marathon Performance (Ritzenhein, Carney, Hartmann. Tempo Sports (with Jorge and Ed Torres and Cabada)and of course Team USA California (with Meb, Ryan Hall and Dan Browne.
3.) Whether an athlete chooses to compete with his club or -in some instances - his or her shoe contract may mandate that they compete for their shoe company. In no instance will we ask (or expect) a runner to violate their contracts or USATF rules. The only 2 permissible teams will be either one sponsored by a shoe company or a legitimate bona fide team that has publicly posted it's members well in advance of the race.
4.) Team prize money is $20,000 - ON TOP OF the $65,000 individual prize money. We believe this is the top purse for "US runners only" of any non-marathon in the country in 2009.
5.) Lastly, I do not want to violate anything told me me in confidence, (cannot mention names of who has committed) but the interest and feedback has been phenomenal. Our field will be loaded.