Posted: October 1, 2004

Athletics: USATF News and Notes for October 1st

Team USA heads into World Half Marathon Championships

Team USA has traveled to the capital of India for this weekend's 13th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships to be held Sunday, October 3 in New Delhi.

A record 64 countries are entered in the Championships, which are being held in Asia for the first time. Athletes will compete for substantial prize money, with $30,000 going to the individual winners, $15,000 for second, $10,000 for third, $7,000 for fourth, $5,000 for fifth and $3,000 for sixth. The top three athletes from each team, which can have up to five athletes, count toward team scoring. The winning team gets $15,000, with prize money continuing through sixth place ($3,000).

The race will be contested on a two-loop course that starts and finishes in Jawaharal Nehru Stadium.

On the U.S. men's team are several experienced runners, including 2003 USA Marathon Championship runner-up Kevin Collins of Cicero, N.Y. Owning a marathon personal best of 2:15:32, Collins was 12th at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Trials in 2:17:00. Josh Cox (29, Murrieta, Calif.), who was seventh at the 2004 Olympic Trials and competed for Team USA at the 2001 World Outdoor Championships, also brings his international team experience to New Delhi.

Leading the U.S. women is 36-year-old Kim Fitchen-Young of Santa Cruz, Calif. A two-time USA Outdoor Championships fourth-place finisher at 10,000m, Fitchen-Young was fifth at the 2004 USA 15 km Championships and fourth in the 10,000m at the 2003 Pan American Games. She has earned a top-5 U.S. ranking in the 10,000 meters three times and competed at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Women's Marathon Trials.

For more information on the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, visit IAAF.org.

Team USA Roster, 2004 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships

Women: Kimberly Fitchen-Young, 36, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Dana Coons, 26, Burnsville, Minn.; Heather Tanner, 26, Palo Alto, Calif.; Emily Jameson, 27, Salt Lake City, Utah. Women's Team Leader: Carol McLatchie, Bend, Ore.

US Men's Team: Nick Cordes, 25, Rochester Hills, Mich.; Teddy Mitchell, 32, Albuquerque, N.M.; Josh Cox, 29, Murrieta, Calif.; Justin Young, 25, Denver, Colo.; Kevin Collins, 33, Cicero, N.Y. Team Leader: Jim McLatchie, Bend, Ore.

USATF National Club Marathon Relay Championships

The second edition of the USATF National Club Marathon Relay Championships hosted by the Akron Marathon & Team Relays will take place Saturday in Akron, Ohio. Clubs from as far away as Washington, Colorado and North Carolina are expected to compete for national club bragging rights. The marathon relay event is the second of three club championship events in the USATF Club Championship Series.

On the women's side, the defending champions, RunOhio Lake Erie (Ohio), will be challenged by strong squads from the Indiana Invaders (Ind.), adidas Raleigh Track Club (N.C.) and Fleet Feet Sports - Louisville (Ky.).

The Invaders won the National Club Track & Field championships this summer and look to win their second Club Championship Series event in 2004. In their first major competition as a team, adidas Raleigh Track Club finished third at last fall's Club Cross Country Championships and will be looking to garner their first national title.

The men's field is lead by Fleet Feet Sports - Louisville and Front Line Racing (Mich.) and Club Northwest (Wash.).

For more information visit USATF.org.

USA 50 mile road championships set for Saturday

The Tussey Mountainback 50-mile Relay and Ultramarathon on Saturday, October 2, will host the 2004 USA 50 Mile Championships on a course that consists of a single loop through central Pennsylvania's Rothrock State Forest in Boalsburg. A championship purse will provide cash awards to the first, second and third male and female in both open and masters (age 40 and over) competition.

Local ultrarunner Morgan Windram is the two-time defending champion at the Tussey Mountainback race, and the Penn State graduate student owns the course record of 7 hours, 46 minutes. In the race's four years, only three men have bested her mark on the course.

Windram will be part of a field of 40 ultramarathoners from the United States and Canada that will include four-time JFK 50 Miler champion Laura Nelson of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and 2002 Maine Track Club 50 Miler champion Laurel Valley of Parsonsfield, Maine.

Participants in the men's race include Greg Loomis, who logged a 6:24 at the 2001 JFK 50 Miler. The current men's record of 7:23 on the Tussey course was set in 2002 by Steve Thorne, a linguistics professor at Penn State.

For more information on the USA 50 Mile Championships, visit USATF.org.