Posted: September 22, 2005

Athletics: Mosqueda, Kravatsova Headline Orange County Race for the Cure® 5K

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - (Sept. 21, 2005) - Sylvia Mosqueda, Olga Kravtsova, Genevieve Graff-Ermeling, Carmen Troncoso and Ceci St. Geme headline the women's field for the 14th Orange County Race for the Cure® 5K set for Sunday, Sept. 25. The top ten female finishers and the top three masters will be eligible for the Orange County Register $5000 prize purse.

Course record holder and perennial favorite Sylvia Mosqueda of Los Angeles is eager to defend her 2003 title and course record of 16:28. Mosqueda, 39, can expect to have strong competition from first year participant Olga Kravatsova of Belarus. Kravatsova is fresh from a fantastic performance at the Helsinki World Championships in August. In the 5,000 meter finals, she fell, got up and finished 10th, setting a national record of 14:47.75. Two weeks ago in Providence, R.I., Kravtsova won the CVS/pharmacy Downtown 5K in 15:43.

In addition to Kravtsova, the international field will include Canadian Olympian (triathlon/10,000m) Carol Montgomery and Ethiopian Aster Demissie. These women will join the fastest field of Open and masters athletes since 2001 when the top 10 finishers were all under 17:49.

The U.S. field also includes 2005 champion Cassandra Henkiel from Austin, Texas. Henkiel ran almost 1 minute fastest at the Freihofer's 5K (16:50) this summer than her winning time in 2005. Expected to vie for one of the top 5 spots will be 2002 OCRFC runner-up and 1995 NCAA Women of the Year, Heather Frisone of nearby Chino Hills.

The masters women's field is led by 2005 USA masters champion Carmen Troncoso of Austin, Texas and Ceci St. Geme, Stanford grad and local mother of six. Both athletes have had a great 2005 with Troncoso winning the masters title at Freihofer's and St. Geme finishing 2nd to Monica Joyce at the Carlsbad 5000 masters race.

The race - first run in 1992 with 3,800 participants - has averaged 23,000 entrants for the past 5 years. The event is separated into a co-ed race, one mile walk and a women-only 5K. The crowd of 9,000 plus women in the women's race gives the elite racers an electrifying experience as the course doubles back on itself three times during the event.

The race, a fundraiser for the Orange County affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, has raised over $17 million dollars in the first 13 years. Proceeds are expected to top $1.8 million dollars this year. The Race is managed by Kinane Events of Carlsbad. For more information, go to: OCKomen.com.

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.