|
Top teams expected at 10th International Team Challenge, May 28
BOULDER, Colo. - (May 23, 2007) - Matt Gonzales from Albuquerque, N.M. will replace James Carney on the BolderBOULDER men's Team USA. Carney withdrew from International Team Challenge due to an Achilles tendon injury. The ITC is part of the 29th BolderBOULDER 10K on Monday, Memorial Day, May 28.
Matt Gonzales, age 25, was scheduled to run last year on Team USA, but he suffered an injury and withdrew. This year, he was the top American at the Lilac Bloomsday 12K finishing 12th overall and on Saturday, May 19, he was the second American at the Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park, N.Y. running 28:50 and finishing 6th. Gonzales, a 7-time NCAA All-American at the University of New Mexico, had runner-up finishes at the 2004 NCAA Cross Country Championships and at the 2006 USA 15K Championship (44:07).
In addition to Gonzales, the men's Team USA includes 2004 Olympic Trials marathon champion and 2002 BolderBOULDER runner-up Alan Culpepper and Edwardo Torres, both graduates of the University of Colorado.
At the 10th BolderBOULDER International Team Challenge, there are 19 teams - who will compete over a 10K 5-lap criterium course along Folsom Street with one lap through Folsom Field - representing 12 countries.
On the men's side, the nine teams include: USA, Team Colorado, British Commonwealth Composite Team (Australia, New Zealand and Tanzania), Ecuador, Ethiopia, England, Kenya, Mexico and Morocco, while the women's 10 teams include: USA, Team Colorado, Japan, England, Ethiopia, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Morocco and Romania. The women's race starts at 11:30am and the men's race at 12:20pm.
Race Preview
Men's Teams
On race day, Alan Culpepper will be wearing bib #1 and for good reason. At the 2007 USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder last February, the two-time Olympian methodically picked his way through the field to win his third national harrier title. Together with his two altitude trained teammates, Matt Gonzales and Edwardo Torres, they give the USA a balanced and talented attack. Last year, Mexico proved you don't need the individual winner to take the team crown.
The Kenyan team led by Simon Ndirangu will be the strongest challenger to the USA. Richard Kiplagat and Charles Munyeki round out a team that hasn't won the team title in a few years, quite a change from 1998 to 2003 when they won five out of the six titles. Kenya's African archrival and another key contender is Ethiopia and they always bring a rowdy group of fans. They lack the single runner who can dominate the race, but will be a factor in determining the overall team champion.
The dark horses in the mix are Morocco led by last year's sixth place finisher Ridouane Harroufi and right along side them and a sure bet to end up in the money (top five teams win prize money), the Commonwealth Team of Michael Aish (New Zealand), Andrew Letherby (Australia) and John Yuda (Tanzania). The trio have prior BolderBOULDER experience, all train at altitude and judging by their springtime racing results are ready to make a bid to capture the team title which is something they could not do while running for their respective countries. All this adds up to the most competitive men's team since 2004 when Team USA edged Kenya by two points and the outcome was actually decided on the stadium floor when two Ecuadorians passed the tiring third runner for Kenya.
Women's Teams
Sara Slattery and Elva Dryer are two former race champions on the same team, something that has never happened before. Team newcomer Kate O'Neill will be eager to equal the sterling performance of last year's rookie winner Slattery. With the crowd clearly behind this team, the defending champions will run their best and be hard to top.
Kenya will try to do just that as they bring a potent one-two punch of their own in Edna Kiplagat and Emily Chebet, having gone 1-2 in their last major road race and proved that their 1,3 finish at the Lilac Bloomsday 12K was not a fluke. Japan has the most talented trio of marathoners ever, with nearly a 2:24 marathon average (world class is considered sub-2:30). This race favors the strong and it is a demanding course where marathoners have traditionally done well as demonstrated by America's best distance runner, Deena Kastor, a 3-time champion. Ethiopia counters with perhaps the most talented athlete in the field with Teyba Erkesso who set a women-only world record for 10 miles in April and only 11 days before race day posted a jaw dropping 31:13 10,000 meters in the Netherlands.
The question is: Who will have all three runners perform well come race day? Temperatures will be warm and the competition deep, and with cross country scoring being used to determine the team champion, a team like England with two excellent runners in Mara Yamauchi and Liz Yelling could prove decisive in the final tally.
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 for one of the largest non-marathon prize purses in the world. Monies are awarded in both 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.
For more information, visit: BolderBOULDER.com.
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
| 
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?