Posted: July 2, 2007

Athletics: Abdirahman, Hall lead top field at USA Men's 10 km Championships

INDIANAPOLIS - 2007 10,000 meter track champion Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.) leads the men's field for the USA Men's 10 km Championship on Wednesday, July 4, in Atlanta. The championships are hosted by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race. Abdirahman, who won his third track title last week at the AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis, will face-off with 2007 USA Half-Marathon Champion and American Record holder Ryan Hall (Big Bear Lake, Calif.); 2006 USA 25 km champion and American Record holder Fernando Cabada (Bloomington, Ind.), and Brian Sell (Rochester Hills, Mich.), the 2006 USA Half-Marathon champion. Also in contention for the title will be James Carney (Boulder, Colo.), who holds the fifth fastest 10,000 meter performance (27:43.64) for an American this year; Fasil Bizuneh (Flagstaff, Ariz.), a member of the 2007 Team USA squad for the World Cross Country Championships, and 2002 USA Men's 10 km champion Ryan Kirkpatrick (Colorado Springs, Colo.). A total prize purse of $30,000 will be paid to U.S. men with $10,000 going to the champion. Celebrating its 38th running, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race is the largest 10 km race in the world. USA Running Circuit The 2007 USA Men's 10 km Championship is the fifth event for men in the 2007 edition of USA Track & Field's 2006 USA Running Circuit (USARC). The USARC, a USA Track & Field road series, features USA Championships from 5 km to the marathon and attracts the best U.S. distance runners. The thirteenth edition for the men and twelfth for the women, the 2007 USARC has nine events for men and seven events for women. The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USARC race (15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1), with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6000, $4000, and $2500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall. The USARC points at the USA Marathon Championships will be doubled. The mission of the USA Running Circuit is to showcase, support, and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USARC and its races have provided over $4 million dollars to U.S. distance runners. For more information on the 2007 USA Men's 10 km Championship and the 2007 USARC, visit USATF.org. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest