Posted: March 15, 2007

Athletics: Torres, Abdirahman, Famiglietti Headline USA Men's 8K Championship on Saturday

$35,000 prize purse plus $25,000 U.S. 8K record bonus The 2005 USA 8K and 2006 USA 10,000 meter champion Jorge Torres from Boulder, Colo. leads the field for the USA Men's 8K Championship in New York City's Central Park on Saturday, March 17. Torres, 26, who ran 22 minutes, 47 seconds to win the U.S. title two years ago, will face formidable competition including 2004 Olympians Abdi Abdirahman and Anthony Famiglietti and rising stars Max King, Matt Gabrielson, Fernando Cabada, Ed Moran and Rod Koborsi. Olympians Dathan Ritzenhein and Adam Goucher recently withdrew from the race because of injury and illness respectively. The New York Road Runners (NYRR) again will host the national championship (the event has not contested in 2006). NYRR also hosted the USA 8K Championship from 2002-05. The prize purse totals $35,000 with $10,000 for the national champion. Additionally, a $25,000 bonus will be awarded to the winning athlete who breaks the current U.S. 8K record of 22:04 set by Alberto Salazar in 1981. The race course will cover the last eight kilometers (4.97 miles) of the route that will be used when NYRR hosts the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men's Marathon on Saturday, November 3, 2007. The USA Men's 8K Championship is the third stop on the 2007 Men's USA Running Circuit (USARC), a USA Track & Field road racing grand prix series featuring national championships from 5K to the marathon. USA Men's 8K Championship Field as of March 13, 2007 Bib# / Athlete / Residence 1 Jorge Torres, Boulder, CO 2 Abdi Abdirahman, Tucson, AZ 3 Anthony Famiglietti, New York, NY 5 Max King, Bend, OR 6 Matt Gabrielson, Minneapolis, MN 7 Bolota Asmerom, Oakland, CA 8 Fernando Cabada, Bristol, VA 9 Ed Moran, Williamsburg, VA 10 Rod Koborsi, Washington, DC 11 Tom Morgan, Lenoir, NC 12 Dan Browne, Portland, OR 14 Christian Hesch, Morro Bay, CA 15 Ryan Kirkpatrick, Colorado Springs, CO 16 Matt Downin, Madison, WI 17 Joe Driscoll, Lenoir, NC 18 Lyle King, Lenoir, NC 19 Josh Eberly, Rochester Hills, MI 20 Martin Rosendahl, Rochester Hills, MI 21 Brandon Leslie, Albuquerque, NM 22 Chris Graff, Arlington, VA 23 Pat Gildea, Knoxville, TN 24 Pat Tarpy, Providence, RI 25 Seth Summerside, Fayetteville, AR 26 Justin Young, Boulder, CO 27 Blake Boldon, Ames, IA 28 Scott McGowan, Riverdale, UT 29 Chris Lundstrom, Minneapolis, MN 30 Mike Smith, Flagstaff, AZ 31 Jacques Sallberg, Burbank, CA 32 Brendan O'Keefe, Lenoir, NC 33 TJ Doherty, Boulder, CO 34 Karl Dusen, New York, NY 35 Ray Biersbach, New York, NY Find more race information at: NYRR.org. Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director (805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016 Ryan@RunningUSA.org www.RunningUSA.org. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest