Posted: January 12, 2004

Athletics: Club Ballard To Host Seattle Open Cross Country Classic On January 25th At Lincoln Park

Club Ballard Athletics announced that the Seattle-based track and field club will stage the Seattle Open Cross Country Classic on Sunday, January 25th, 2004 at Lincoln Park in Seattle.

Race director and Club Ballard team manager Paul Merca states that the meet will offer many of the athletes from the Pacific Northwest a final competitive opportunity before the USA Cross Country Championships in Indianapolis, IN., on February 7-8.

"As USA Track & Field has moved the national championships to February from its traditional late November/early December window in order to conform with the international calendar, the competitive opportunities for athletes wishing to run cross country races domestically after December is very limited."

"Club Ballard is happy to provide the distance runners of this area a chance to see where they are before the national championships, and we're delighted to stage this meet", Merca said. "We anticipate the participation of many of the Pacific Northwest's elite distance runners in both the short-cross (4K) and the long races, including several runners who have competed at the international level of the sport."

In the 2003 edition of the Seattle Open, Phillimon Hanneck of Beaverton, OR., won the men's 4-kilometer (2.46 miles) short cross race in a time of 13:06.

Hanneck, competing for NIKE, was chased by former University of Washington standout and 2002 short course winner Geoff Perry before he pulled away for the victory.

Former Arizona State University All-American Kelly MacDonald of Renton easily emerged victorious in the women's 4-kilometer race in a time of 15:11

In a very exciting men's10-kilometer (6.2 miles) race, Chad Johnson of Portland pulled away for the victory, winning in a time of 30:17 to defeat NIKE teammates Dave Davis (30:27) and Mike Donnelley (30:30). Hanneck, who won the 4-k race 45 minutes earlier, finished fourth in 30:58.

Emilie Mondor of Montreal, a student at British Columbia's Simon Fraser University won the featured women's 6-kilometer (3.74 miles) race in a course record time of 20:29, running away from fellow Canadian national team member Allison Rendell of Vancouver by 1:29. Janine Moffett of Vancouver, BC finished third in a time of 22:04.

In the Northwest International Team Challenge race held in conjunction with the men's 10-k and women's 6-k races, Oregon, led by Johnson cruised to victory over British Columbia and Washington, scoring a perfect 10 points.

The British Columbia women also scored a perfect 10 points to win the team title.

The meet will consist of a men's and women's 4-kilometer race and community run at 11:00 AM; a women's 6-kilometer race; and a men's 8-kilometer competition, both of which starts at 11:45 AM. The men's 8-kilometer race is a change from previous Seattle Open races, in which the longer 10-k distance was contested.

All races will be contested over a European-style 2-kilometer loop course going through the north and central portions of Lincoln Park. This course was originally designed for the 1999 USA Women's World Cross Country Team Trials.

The men's 8K and the women's 6K races also features an international team challenge competition between teams representing American states and Canadian provinces. The first four finishers from each state or province will score for their team, while the first six displace per International Association of Athletics Federation rules. There is no team scoring in the short cross country race.

Individual and team awards, courtesy of Reebok will be presented to the top finishers in each of the four races on the schedule.

Entry forms for the race are available at several Seattle-area sports stores, including Super Jock 'n Jill in Green Lake; Seattle Running Company on Capitol Hill; Foot Zone in Bellevue and in Issaquah; and Sound Sports in Downtown Seattle. Interested participants may send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Club Ballard, Box 70601, Seattle, WA., 98127-0601. An entry form is available at the team's web site, which is: www.clubballard.com.

The entry fee for the event is $10.00, before January 21st. There will be day-of-race registration; however, the entry fee on race day is $15.00.

Runners may also enter the Seattle Open through its online partner, Active.com. Telephone inquiries for the race may be directed to Paul Merca at 206/499-4329. You may also send email inquiries to clubalrd@earthlink.net, or visit the club's web site at www.clubballard.com.