Masters athletes age 40 and over will compete on the same stage as the nation’s top “open” and professional athletes at the inaugural .US National Road Racing Championships on Nov. 17, 2013, in Alexandria, Va.
For the first time, a single race will serve as both a USA Track & Field open national championship and a USATF masters championship.
“We are very pleased to designate the .US National Road Racing Championships as our national championship for masters,” USATF CEO Max Siegel said. “With both the open and masters divisions serving as national championships, the race truly will showcase the full range of top-level racing in this country, while also featuring everyday runners and fitness enthusiasts.”
The .US National Road Racing Championships is a 12-kilometer (12 km) event providing a season-capping finale to the USA Running Circuit (USARC), a series of national-championship races that annually provides nearly $1 million in prize money to American runners. Elite athletes must place in the top-ten at a USARC race to be eligible to compete at the .US National Road Racing Championships. The .US National Road Racing Championships feature $100,000 in prize money, with $20,000 going to the men’s and women’s national champions.
In addition to the elite and masters championships, the event also will prominently feature competitive, recreational, and lifestyle/fitness runners from around the region and the country, with USATF members receiving a $10 discount off the cost of registration. The race lineup includes the Elite Championship 12 km, Masters Championship 12 km, a 12 km open division, 5 km and ½-mile kids’ fun run.
All over-40 runners in the race are eligible for national masters titles, though a slate of world-class U.S. masters athletes will likely take the spotlight.
“This is a tremendous development for our masters competitors,” said USATF Masters Long Distance Running Chair Don Lein. “Our athletes are world-class in their own right and are richly deserving of the national spotlight that this race brings. We look forward to this season-ending race on the cobblestone streets of Alexandria.”
The masters segment of long distance running is a strong and vibrant segment, with more athletes participating each year. According to Running USA, in 2011 more than half of all road race finishers were over the age of 35. USATF’s 2013 calendar includes seven masters championships prior to the .US National Road Race, ranging in distance from one mile to the marathon.
Elite athletes currently qualified for the .US National Road Racing Championships include Olympic medalists Deena Kastor, Meb Keflezighi, Shalane Flanagan and Leo Manzano, as well as Desiree Davila, Shannon Rowbury, Matt Tegenkamp, Abdi Abdirahman and many others.
For more information on the .US National Road Racing Championships, including a 12 km course map and online event registration, visit www.uschampionships.us.
Follow the .US National Road Racing Championships on Twitter: @dotUSchamps and Facebook:www.Facebook.com/DotUSNationalRoadRacingChamps.
About USA Track & Field: USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org.
About .US: .US is the country code domain name for the United States of America. .US is managed and operated by Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR), an information services company, on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce. Neustar operates the .US global registry in the public interest and provides critical infrastructure services. Visit www.about.us for more information on .US, and visit www.neustar.biz for more information on Neustar.
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