Posted: February 28, 2006

Athletics: Richmond Race Reaches Registration Record

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10-K, which will be held for the seventh time on April 1, has broken its previous entry record. The organizers report that over 17,000 runners had registered as of this morning, an astonishing figure for a race which had only 2184 finishers in its inaugural year in 2000.

Last year's race had 11,333 official finishers vs. 16,511 who had registered. Organizers said they would leave registration open until 20,000 applicants were accepted.

Also, the race plans to include its Cingular Dash for Cash again this year, where a recreational runner is allowed to start the race from a mark well ahead of the official start, depending on his or her previous 10-K times. The recreational runner is selected at random from a pool of entrants who wish to take part in the promotion. Should the selected runner get to the finish line ahead of the first elite man, he or she will earn $2,500.

Last year, 49 year-old Larry Comstock set off from the two-mile mark when the starter's gun was fired, and made it to the finish line in 26:16, well ahead of the race winner, Ernest Meli Kimeli of Kenya (28:43). Tatyana Petrova of Russia (32:46) won the women's race.

More information is available at the event website, www.sportsbackers.org.

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