For Immediate Release
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Contact:
Jim Estes
USA Track & Field
Associate Director of LDR & Marketing
317-713-4661; [email protected]
USA Men's 10 km champion to be crowned Sunday in Atlanta
INDIANAPOLIS - On the heels of strong performances at last week's USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Ed Moran (Williamsburg, Va.), Patrick Smyth (Minneapolis, Minn.), and Ryan Sheehan (Kalamazoo, Mich.) will lead the contenders for the USA Men's 10 km title Sunday at the 41st running of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia.
While the race also features a strong international field, Moran, Smyth and Sheehan, who respectively finished second, third and fourth in the men's 10,000 meters last week in Des Moines, will also face top U.S. athletes including Jorge Torres (Boulder, Colo.), the 2006 USA Outdoor 10,000 meter champion; 2010 USA 15 km champion Mo Trafeh (Duarte, Calif.); and Andrew Carlson (Flagstaff, Ariz.), the 2010 USA 25 km champion.
The field will also feature Anthony Famiglietti (Knoxville, Tenn.) and James Carney (Boulder, Colo.), who finished second and third respectively in the 2009 championships. Other top Americans include Aaron Braun (Alamosa, Colo.), who finished fourth in the men's 5,000m in Des Moines; and Bobby Mack (Raleigh, N.C.), a member of the 2010 Team USA World Cross Country squad.
Video highlights
The USA Men's 10 km Championship will be streamed live beginning at 7:15 a.m. ET in cooperation with RunnerSpace.com at www.USARunningCircuit.com.
About the USARC
The USA Men's 10 km Championship is the fifth stop for the men on the 2010 USA Running Circuit (USARC) and will feature $30,000 in prize money.
The 2010 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 circuit features ten events each for men and women. Antonio Vega (Minneapolis, Minn.) currently leads the men's standings with 25 points however with Vega not competing this weekend, Carlson, Trafeh or Smyth are all poised to take the circuit lead with strong performances.
The 2010 USARC will once again see a record amount of circuit prize money for a non-Olympic year with total prize purse of $623,850 offered by host events. U.S. athletes will also have the opportunity to qualify for various Team USA events, including the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and the Chiba International Ekiden.
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 on the 2010 USA Men's 10 km Championship visit www.USARunningCircuit.com.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.
For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org
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