Posted: January 17, 2006

Athletics: Despite Hurricane Damage, Crescent City Classic Goes On

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Despite the damage inflicted to the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina last August, the organizers of the Crescent City Classic 10-K said today that their road race will be held as usual on Easter Saturday, April 15.

"I am proud to announce that this effort to continue our event has not been easy, but we believe it will still be one of the outstanding 10-K's in the world," said elite athlete coodinator, Gary Gomez in an e-mail message to RRW. "While I cannot promise the two fastest female times in the world (Ochichi & Radcliffe) nor the the 2nd, 3rd and 10th fastest men's times (Kipketer, Korir & Kibowen) I do promise that we will have a world class field as usual."

The flat point-to-point course, which begins in the French Quarter and finishes on Roosevelt Mall in City Park, has indeed produced some very fast times. In 2002 Kenyan Sammy Kipketer ran 27:11 (27:10.3), then the world record. In the 27 runnings of the race, the male winner has broken 28 minutes a remarkable 15 times. On the women's side, three-time winner and defending champion, Isabella Ochichi of Kenya, set the course record of 30:27 when she beat Paula Radcliffe last year by 18 seconds (Radcliffe won the race in 1997). Eleven times the women's winner has run under 32 minutes.

Gomez has already confirmed that 2004 IAAF World Cross Country champion Benita Johnson of Australia will compete, and he also expects defending champions Kipketer and Ochichi to run. Perhaps more importantly, the post race party is also expected to be at pre-Katrina levels, and Bill Rodgers will be the official starter and will run with the back-of-the-packers.

"The tremendous post race party will still take place in Tad Gormley stadium with live bands, great food and plenty of cold beers as usual," Gomez continued. "A new award this year for the top Louisiana Male and Female finisher will be a Norwegian Sun 7 Day Exotic Western Caribbean Cruise to each."

Gomez also pointed out that plenty of hotel rooms have been blocked off at the event's host hotel, the Sheraton New Orleans, on Canal Street.

The official event website is www.ccc10K.com, but runners can register directly at this link through Active.com.

"We need everyone's help and support to get New Orleans back up on our feet economically and this is a great way to get something back in return," said Gomez.

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