Posted: May 12, 2005

Athletics: BolderBOULDER International Team Challenge Announces American Men's Team

BOULDER, Colo. - (May 11, 2005) - The American men's team for the 8th International Team Challenge at the 27th BolderBOULDER on Memorial Day, May 30th has been assembled: Chris Graff, Pete Julian and Jason Hubbard.

Chris Graff, 29, lives in Washington, DC with his wife Elizabeth. His lifetime 10,000 meter best of 28:03.11 was run on May 1, 2005 at the Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, CA. Graff, a Long Island native from Oceanside (New York) High School, graduated from St. John's University. In 2001-04, the 2003 USA 10 mile champion trained with the Nike Farm Team and coach Frank Gagliano in Palo Alto and last December, he moved back to Washington, DC. Chris recently placed 9th at the USA 15K road championship in Jacksonville, FL on March 12 and 3rd at the USA 10 Mile Championship in Louisville, KY on April 9, 2005.

Pete Julian, 34, lives in Boulder, CO with his wife Colleen. Julian is altitude trained with a couple of top ten finishes in USA Road Championships this spring. He was recently named the Head Cross Country Coach at Metro State College in Denver. Pete who served as assistant coach for the Regis University cross country team this past fall won a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. Rising from the sleepy logging town of Ashland, OR, Pete Julian has seen it all and then some. A veteran of multiple national teams, he continues a steady climb from high school "also ran" to an "A" list road racer with a serious twist - he's a cancer survivor. Diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumors in 1999, Pete slowly put the pieces back together and proved to everyone that he is as tough as they get. With altitude induced guts and determination and his recent 8th place showing at the recent USA Men's 8K Championship, look for the crafty veteran to combine sit-and-wait strategy topped with a good ol' fashioned teeth-gritting last mile for a top place.

Jason Hubbard, 30, lives in Alamosa, CO with his wife Sandie. The ten-time All-American at Adams State has a lifetime best of 28:30.65 in the 10,000 meters. On April 15, 2005, he placed 3rd at the Mt. SAC Relays with a time of 28:37.65. In 2004, Jason finished third at the USA 10K Championship in 28:57.

The International Team Challenge, started in 1998, is the largest international road racing team competition held annually in the United States. International teams are made up of three runners per gender. The teams compete over a multi-loop 10K course and for the largest non-marathon prize purse in the world. Monies are awarded in the team and individual categories. Teams are scored cross-country style with points awarded on the basis of finishing place. The team with the lowest score for all three runners is the winner. Ties are broken by the position of the third-place finishers.

Last year at the Challenge, in a riveting competition, the men's Team USA - Olympians Meb Keflezighi, Alan Culpepper and Abdi Abdirahman - won their first team title by two points over powerhouse Kenya, 19 to 21. It was also the first time that the Kenyan men - when fielding a complete finishing team - had been beaten at the event.

About BolderBOULDER
The Celestial Seasonings BolderBOULDER 10K, a Running USA Founding Member, is one of the largest road races in the world and the largest timed 10K in the world. The race attracts up to 50,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair racers and draws professional racing teams from all over the world to compete for the largest non-marathon prize purse in road racing. The race starts at the north end of 30th Street in Boulder near the First National Bank of Colorado, winds through neighborhoods with live music and entertainment at every corner, and finishes in the University of Colorado's Folsom Field. More than 100,000 spectators watch the festivities from inside the stadium and along the course. Every year, the race makes donations to local charities that provide volunteers to help stage the race. Over the years, beneficiaries have included the Boulder Humane Society, Attention Homes, Younglife, Boulder Optimists, local schools, and church youth groups.

The BolderBOULDER is proud to be partnered with the following primary sponsors: Celestial Seasonings, Frontier Airlines and Millennium Hotel. The 27th BolderBOULDER will be held on Memorial Day, May 30, 2005.

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.runningusa.org.