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Wire 41, May 26, 2000 In this edition of the Running USA wire:
*Top Field Including Hickman, Lauck, Phillips, Rhines, Fairchild, Garcia Expected Copyright (c) 2000 Running USA Upcoming Events
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bolder Boulder 10K: Ten to Watch at the Pontiac International Team Challenge BOULDER, Colo. - (May 26, 2000) - Rich Castro, Athlete Coordinator for the 22nd Bolder Boulder 10K, previews the 3rd Pontiac International Team Challenge set for Memorial Day, Monday, May 29. A record field of over 40,000 is expected for the Citizen's Race. Several countries including Yugoslavia (men) and Russia (women) are making their debut appearance in the International Team Challenge. Teams--16 men's and 12 women's--entered for the International Team Challenge as of May 20: Men's: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Pan Africa, Peru, Romania, South Africa, USA and Yugoslavia Women's: Canada, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, The Netherlands, Peru, Romania, South Africa, Russia and USA Here is an overview of the top teams and likely contenders. MEN Teams
Individuals 1. Dominic Kirui/Kenya: First time visitor, but running very strongly, evidenced by his second place finish at Examiner Bay to Breakers 12K last Sunday. He has one major 10K victory to his credit already this year, running a 27:49 at the Azalea Trail 10K in Mobile, Alabama in March. 2. Sisay Bezabeh/Australia: Ran a lifetime best of 27:56 on the track on May 5 at Stanford. He was 9th last year, and looks ready to join the ranks of the best. 3. Silvio Guerra/Ecuador: A hometown favorite who would love to capture this title. The runner-up in the 1999 Boston Marathon, and a 2:09 marathoner. He will make it happen up front. The national record holder with a best of 27:47.8 for 10,000 meters. 4. Joseph Kimani/Kenya: One of the most prolific road racers in history. Holds the world best on the roads for 10K with an astounding 27:04, run at the 1996 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. 5. Berhanu Adane/Ethiopia: Last year was his breakthrough debut on the U.S. road scene. This year he will take no one by surprise. The defending champion is not the favorite due to inconsistency. He improved his personal best by 40 seconds in winning last year, and will have to improve again on his 29:00 performance if he is to win it this time around. 6. Stefano Baldini/Italy: Training in Alamosa, Colorado and coming off a 2:09:45 marathon performance at the London Marathon in late April. His lifetime best of 27:43 for 10K in 1996 says that he can run with the big boys. Falling in the midst of his Olympic marathon preparations, Bolder Boulder will be an excellent test of his fitness. 7. Charles Mulinga/Zambia: If this race were at sea level he could win it all. Coming from Fayetteville, Arkansas he will struggle when the pace gets hot. He has won races on a global scale and his 27:00 10K on an aided course says he can move his legs. Running for the Pan Africa team, and being a top five competitor in all his races thus far in 2000 says he will do well here. 8. Abraham Assefa/Ethiopia: The veteran on the Ethiopian squad, he looks to improve his finish from last year, when his younger teammate upstaged him. Has a best of 27:42.8 for 10,000m on the track. 9. Carlos Grisales/Colombia: A veteran marathoner who competes very well at altitude. Has the slowest lifetime best of any top ten contender, 28:42. But living and training at 10,000ft plus will give him an advantage in this race. 10. David Galindo/Mexico: The Mexicans always compete well here, and Galindo has been racing well enough that veteran coach and past Bolder Champion selected him to captain this year's squad. He's raced here before in the first team race, and was a solid contender, this time he looks to improve. WOMEN Teams
Individuals 1. Colleen De Reuck/South Africa: Perennial front runner. Coming off a victory at the Examiner Bay to Breakers 12K. No runner male or female that has won that race, and run in the Bolder Boulder the week after, has ever lost. She is the hometown favorite, but will face an excellent and deep field. 31:16 lifetime best for 10,000 meters. 2. Derartu Tulu/Ethiopia: 1992 Olympic Champion at 10,000 meters. International veteran. The 2000 World Cross Country 8K champion is fresh off breaking her own national record for 10K on the roads, with a 31:40 at the AVON Global Championships in Milan, Italy. 3. Jane Omoro/Kenya: The 1998 individual champion in the first team race. She has two major victories on the road this year, and was ranked in the top ten in the world in 1999 at the 10k distance. 4. Luminita Talpos/Romania: Her teammate Lidia Simon pulled off the win last year. This year she leads very strong trio. She has a best of 32:22 and is a seasoned veteran, yet her time is only third best, on her own team. 5. Merima Hashim/Ethiopia: This year's X factor. Young and talented. Was 5th in the Junior World Cross Country 6K Championships, and this is her first year on the U.S. road circuit. 6. Adriana Fernandez/Mexico: The New York City Marathon Champion in 1999 (2:25:06). One of the fastest women in the field with a personal best of 15:14 for 5000 meters also set in 1999. Has run 31:53 on the track for 10K. Versatile, strong and this is her third visit to Boulder. Mexico has done well here traditionally and this year should be no exception. 7. Pauline Konga/Kenya: The silver medalist at 5,000 meters in Atlanta. Was third at Bay to Breakers last Sunday. She bested her two teammates at San Francisco and appears ready to make her mark. She has a 10K best this year of 32:43. 8. Jane Ngotho/Kenya: Yes everyone from Kenya should be in the top ten, giving them a virtual lock on the team title. This Jane has traded wins with Jane Omoro on the U.S. circuit this year, and should be tough here as well. Has a best of 32:10 for 10K on the roads. 9. Constantina Dita/Romania: A best of 32:05 for 10K and a veteran of international competitions. Has an excellent 1:12:22 half marathon to her credit, and we know that strength plays a factor in altitude races. 10. Eyerusalem Kuma/Ethiopia: The spelling of her first name is a mystery, but her running certainly is not. Her 33:47 last year put her in the top ten, and her strong running this year should keep her there. Pontiac is the presenting sponsor of the 2000 International Team Challenge. Past team and individual champions at the International Team Challenge MEN 1999 Mexico Berhanu Adane (ETH) 29:00 WOMEN 1999 Ethiopia Lidia Simon (ROM) 32:30 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Pontiac International Team Challenge Team USA "All In The Family" CONTACTS: Rich Castro BOULDER, Colo. - (May 25, 2000) - Bolder Boulder Team USA feels especially close this year, as they prepare for the 2000 International Team Challenge on the 29th. Sean Tynan, of Albuquerque, New Mexico will compete on the American men's team and his wife, Carole Zajac-Tynan is planning to run on the women's team. This is the first such duo to compete in the Bolder Boulder International Team Format. Men's Team USA will be led by Tynan and Simon Guiterrez, also of Albuquerque. They will be joined by Jeff Simonich of Salt Lake City, Utah. Simonich has a best of 13:44 for the 5,000 meter race and has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials at that distance. Simon Guiterrez is married to Magdalena Thorsell of Sweden. Magdalena was the team captain for Team Sweden in the '99 competition. Guiterrez placed 4th in the citizen's division of the Bolder Boulder in 1999. On the women's side, Zajac-Tynan with join forces with Kristin Coogan and Maria Trujillo de Rios to take on defending women's champ Team Ethiopia. Kristin Coogan's sister-in -law, Gwyn Coogan, competed on Team USA in 1999. Maria Trujillo de Rios is a master's runner, and was 14th at the recent U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. She won the prestigious Carlsbad 5000 masters title on March 26th. For more information on the Bolder Boulder 10K, the country's 4th largest road race, go to its website at http://www.bolderboulder.com. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE KENAH PULLS OUT OF 2000 FREIHOFER'S
RUN FOR WOMEN: Rueckert & Shanley, Freihofer's Run for Women Tel: (518) 446-1091; Tel: (518) 273-5552 x205 ALBANY, N.Y. (May 23, 2000) -- Cheri Kenah, who captured her first Freihofer's Run for Women crown in dramatic style last year by outkicking Libbie Hickman to the finish line, today withdrew from the 22nd annual Freihofer's Run for Women slated for Saturday, June 3. A multiple state champ in track and cross-country for Saratoga High in the 1980s, Kenah injured a tendon in her left foot while competing in the 5,000m at the recent Oregon Twilight Meet. "I'm sorry to miss the 2000 Freihofer's Run for Women. This has been a major stop on my annual racing calendar for several years now," said Kenah from her Reston, Virginia home, where she is undergoing physical therapy and hopes to return to training next week. Kenah added, "I want to thank George Regan and the organization for inviting me back to defend my 5K National Championship title and also want to recognize all of the local support which I continue to receive from the Capital Region. I wish all of the invited athletes, as well as the local women, the best of luck at this year's event. I hope to return and compete well in the 2001 Freihofer's." [For any further information on Cheri Kenah, you may contact Mark Wetmore at Global Athletics & Marketing at (617) 536 7030.] "Naturally, we're very disappointed to lose Cheri from this year's race. Her battle for the finish line last year was the most exciting we've ever had," said Event Director George Regan. "However, Cheri's withdrawal now makes this year's race wide open. Any one of a number of our invited field can now capture the Freihofer's title." Gunning for the prestigious 5K National Championship title will now be five of last year's top 10 finishers. They include '99 runner-up Libbie Hickman, (Ft. Collins, CO); Blake Phillips, (Chapel Hill, NC), fifth in '99; Melody Fairchild, (Boulder, Colo.), ninth; Jennifer Rhines, (Haverford, PA), 10th; and Donna Garcia, (Marietta, GA). Also set to answer the starting gun in this year's open field are: Anne Marie Lauck, (Hampton, NJ), a '96 Olympian in Atlanta, who finished 10th overall in the marathon, and who also was runner-up that year at Freihofer's; Kate Fonshell (Ardmore, PA), a '96 Olympian who competed at the 10,000m; Shelly Steely (Albuquerque, NM), an accomplished distance runner who placed seventh over 3000m at the '92 Olympic Games; 1996 10,000m Olympian Olga Appell (Albuquerque, NM), a talented distance runner who equaled the Freihofer's course record of 15:27 in '95; and, Sylvia Mosqueda (South Pasadena, CA), an aggressive long-distance racer who placed fifth in the '99 Carlsbad 5000m. The competition will also be fierce on the Master's (over-40) side. Carmen Ayala-Troncoso of Austin, Texas will return to defend her Freihofer's crown. She will be joined by Judi St. Hilaire (Somerset, MA), who set the 5K American record at Freihofer's in 1989; and, Jane Welzel (Fort Collins, Colo.), '96 over-40 winner at Freihofer's. Also vying for the $2,500 Master's prize money will be: Maria Trujillo de Rios (Marina, CA); Patty Valadka, (Houston, Texas); Honor Fetherston, (Mill Valley, CA); and Joan Ottaway, (Sonora, CA). The pre-event press conference on Friday, June 2nd will be broadcast live on the internet at trackmeets.com from 2-3 p.m. (EST) in streaming video. Video footage of the race will be available on demand on the same website on the evening of Saturday, June 3. Those who miss the race will have an opportunity to catch all the action the evening of the race. WNYT-13, Albany's NBC affiliate, will air a half-hour Freihofer's Run for Women special from 7:30-8 p.m. on Saturday, June 3. For additional information on the 2000 Freihofer's Run for Women, call
(518) 273-5552. Alternatively, visit the event's web site at:
www.freihofersrun.com. Event information can also be received via e-mail
at info@freihofersrun.com. |
| Compiled by USATF
Road Running Information Center
Ryan Lamppa, Running
USA Media Coordinator |