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USA 20-K CHAMPIONSHIPS ON TAP FOR MONDAY IN NEW HAVEN
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
Some
of America's top distance runners will descend on New Haven, Conn.,
tomorrow for the 33rd running of the Stratton Faxon New Haven Road Race
which will host the USA 20-K championships for both men and women.
Organizers are expecting ideal racing conditions now that Hurricane
Earl, which only delivered a glancing blow to the Connecticut coast
last Friday, has weakened and moved out to sea.
"We're very
excited about having the country's top runners compete in New Haven,"
said John Tolbert, who coordinates the elite fields for the race. "We
have very deep men's and women's race fields. "With a cool day the
men's and women's 20-K American records could be in jeopardy."
The
key athletes chasing their share of the $40,000 prize money purse
include defending women's champion, and four-time Olympian, Colleen De
Reuck, 46, of Boulder, Colo. De Reuck first won at New Haven in 1998
in a then world record of 1:05:11. She won again in in 2002, taking
the national title (she was formerly a South African citizen), and
again last year at 45 years-old, setting a world W45 record of 1:07:21.
"I
just tried to relax," De Reuck told Race Results Weekly after last
year's victory. "At 10-K along the water I slipped a bit to 5:30
(3:25/km pace). I was just hanging on at the end."
De Reuck
will face Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who will be using the New
Haven race as a tune-up for her first appearance at the Bank of America
Chicago Marathon on October 10. Lewy Boulet, 37, who lives in Oakland
and is part of the Bay Area Track Club, finished third in New Haven
last year in 1:08:11.
Other contenders for the podium on the
women's side include Amy Hastings of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tera Moody
of Boulder, Colo., and Kristen Fryburg-Zaitz of Brookfield, Colo.
All
eyes will be on marathoner Brett Gotcher in the men's race, the
defending champion. Gotcher, 26, of Flagstaff, Ariz., earned his first
ever USA title in New Haven last year, winning in a long three-way
sprint against Mo Trafeh and Jason Lehmkuhle in 58:57. Trafeh, 25 of
Duarte, Calif., will be competing again and has already won the USA
15-K title this year. Other key contenders include Patrick Smyth, 24,
of Salt Lake City, Utah; Sean Quigley, 25, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Jason
Hartmann, 29, of Portland, Ore.; and James Carney, 32, of Longmont,
Colo.
The New Haven course is mostly flat, but is exposed to the
winds which come off of the Long Island Sound near the half-way point.
Fast times are possible. The course records are 57:37 by Khalid
Khannouchi in 1998 and De Reuck's 1:05:11 from the same year. The
American 20-K records are 56:48 by Dathan Ritzenhein set en route to
his bronze medal finish at last October's IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships in Birmingham, England, and 1:04:07 by Deena Kastor set
en route to her victory at the Vattenfall Berlin Halbmarathon in 2006.
ENDS