Small Business 

In a video interview with Running USA's Leah Etling, Jennifer Edwards, Executive Director of the Big Sur Marathon Foundation, discusses the powerful impact of the organization’s recent “Hall Half” event, a half marathon held for youth in Monterey County’s juvenile detention center. Edwards shares that the experience was deeply inspirational—not only for the young participants but also for the volunteers and event organizers. She emphasizes how the discipline, accomplishment, and support involved in training for and completing a race can foster positive change, and she expresses hope that this exposure to the running community will serve as a lasting influence in helping the detainees build healthier, more purposeful futures.

Running USA has released its first 2025 Industry Insight report: What Does It Cost to Put on a Road Race?, offering a detailed analysis of the operational costs, revenue trends, and future outlook for race organizers across the U.S. Based on survey responses from event professionals representing a combined 1,000+ events annually, the report sheds light on the evolving financial realities of the endurance industry. The video above features highlighted findings from the survey results, presented by Running USA Director of Operations and research lead Dr. Michael Clemons. The report is now available for download on the Running USA website. Find it here.

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. EUGENE (03-Aug) -- Donavan Brazier, the 2019 world champion in the 800m who missed nearly three years of competition battling injuries, completed his return to top form with a sensational victory in the men's 800m at Hayward Field on the fourth and final day of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  The 28 year-old ran a flawless race, clocking a personal best 1:42.16 in a nine-man final where six of the athletes set personal bests and eight athletes broke 1:45 including a 16 year-old. "Just pure excitement," said Brazier when asked what his initial reaction was to today's victory. "I think the last few years have been really rough on me.  To finally have a chance at redemption and showcase resilience, like I was really, really happy to do that today." The race began as most thought it would.  Josh Hoey, the reigning world indoor champion, went straight to the front and set a hot pace.  Hoey went through 400m in a scalding 49.3 seconds with Brandon Miller and Bryce Hoppel close behind.  Hoey had planned to make it an honest race, but said later that he might have overcooked it. "I didn't really see the first 400 (split); I was trying to go off effort," Hoey told reporters.  "I think I probably did go out a little too hard." Hoey still had the lead at 600 meters and had no intention of slowing down.  Hoppel, Brazier, and Miller were all close behind, while back in seventh position 16 year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus of Justin, Texas, was just trying to stay in contact.  Hoey held the lead until the final 100 meters, but began to tie up. "Probably about 150 to go I realized I was in trouble," lamented Hoey, who would finish fourth in 1:43.06.  "I couldn't really up-shift like you need to nowadays." In the homestretch Brazier came past both Hoppel and Hoey to get the win, his third national outdoor title.  He never broke form, but admitted that he was really hurting in those final meters.   "I was just pure grit the last 200 meters," Brazier said.  "I knew Josh would take it out pretty hard, or somebody would at least.  So, I knew I had to just put myself in good position and hang on." Remarkably, Lutkenhaus ran a sizzling 25.5 seconds for the last 200 meters, 1.1 seconds faster than Brazier.  That put the teenager into fifth place with 100 meters to go, and carried him to second by the finish line.  His time of 1:42.27 was a world under-18 record.  He was the youngest-ever man to make an 800m final at a USATF outdoor championships. "I've always just kind of had a natural spot with 200 to go," Lutkenhaus told reporters, looking a little stunned.  "Ever since middle school it's been the spot that I've really pushed from.  Kind of just decided to go back to middle school tactics." Hoppel, the 2024 Olympic Trials champion, had to settle for third in a season's best 1:42.49.  He made his seventh straight national team since 2019.  Miller, who was an Olympic teammate with Hoppel last August in Paris, was fifth in a personal best 1:43.14. "I knew it was going to be fast," said Miller as he thought about the race.  He continued: "I was ready for 49, and I thought I had it.  I just have some work to do." Willis is Surprise Winner in Women's 800M In a thoroughly entertaining women's 800m final, Roisin Willis of Stanford University (racing for New Balance here) backed-up her NCAA 800m title from June by kicking from fourth to first in the final 100 meters and winning her first USATF title in 1:59.26 off of a slow 61.0-second first half.  Willis, the daughter of Irish Olympian Breeda Dennehy-Willis, was as far back as fifth place with 200 meters to go. "I was just kind of excited to be out there," Willis told reporters.  "A thousand doubts were coming through my head and I said, I've just got to run.  It's not life or death, track and field.  I just went out there and had a lot of fun doing it." Maggi Congdon, who just wrapped up her NCAA career at Northern Arizona University, mounted an incredible sprint in the homestretch, moving from sixth to second to make her first national team in 1:59.39. "I, honestly, was just shocked," Congdon told reporters as she recounted the final meters of the race.  "I was like, just in a dream.  I was definitely believing in myself that this was possible.  I didn't have the expectation, and I think just coming out of college this year I've been racing for a year straight.  I was just trying to have fun here." The battle for third was a nail-biter between Sage Hurta-Klecker and Nia Akins.  Akins was the race leader coming into the homestretch, and after being passed by both Willis and Congdon she was fighting to hold off Hurta-Klecker.  At the line Hurta-Klecker took the third and final national team spot, 1:59.48 to 1:59.52, before tumbling to the track as she went through the line, falling hard on her chest. "I kind of knew it was going to be a dog fight until the end," said an obviously delighted Hurta-Klecker, who made her first national team. Slow 5000M Races Showcased the Best Kickers Both the men's and women's 5000m races --which were straight finals and the last distance events of these championships-- were tactical affairs.  The men's race featured a rematch of the three top finishers from Thursday's 10,000m --Nico Young, Grant Fisher, and Graham Blanks-- but with a twist.  Reigning Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker decided to double-back after finishing third in the 1500m yesterday, and he immediately asserted himself by taking the lead just 200 meters into the race.  His pace was slow and steady, at around 67 seconds per lap, and he stayed on the lead through 4200 meters. "I was leading the entire race pretty much," Hocker told about 20 reporters pressing against the barrier in the mixed zone to hear him.  "We weren't setting any records today, and I was fine with that.  That was right in my wheelhouse." Young surged to the front just before the bell, and Hocker slipped back to seventh place.  He took a few meters to gather his strength and waited until the final bend to unleash the kick that brought him Olympic glory nearly a year ago.  Running on the inside, Hocker went from seventh to first in the final 200 meters to win in 13:26.45.  Fisher, who finished second in the 10,000m on Thursday, could do little to stop Hocker from sweeping past and had to settle for second in 13:26.75. "I was on the outside because I was on Nico's shoulder," Fisher told reporters.  "So, there was nothing I could do to slam the door on him (Hocker), or anything.  It was just going to be a foot race.  Cole's the Olympic champion in the 1500, so he's a tough guy to beat in that last hundred." Young was rewarded with his second team berth after winning the 10,000m.  He was nearly caught by Drew Hunter in the final meters, but crossed the line slightly ahead of his rival to take third, 13:27.05 to 13:27.16. Shelby Houlihan, who returned to competition last February after serving a four-year drug ban, won the women's 5000m title on the strength of a 61.9-second final lap in 15:13.61.  Houlihan, 32, who remains unsponsored, loved how the race was setting up in the final laps after four kilometers where not a single athlete broke three minutes.  She was one of five women who got away on the backstretch of the final lap where Bailey Hertenstein made a big surge to break up the race.  Hertenstein, 25, said she had to try to do something to win. "I've got to give it a try, and if I go down swinging I can say at least I did," said Hertenstein, who finished third in the 2024 NCAA Championships at 5000m.  "It didn't pan out the way I hoped." That's because Hertenstein tied-up on the final 150 meters and finished fifth in 15:16.54 just behind a tiring Weini Kelati (15:15.89).  In front of those two women Houlihan won the drag race ahead of Elise Cranny and Josette Andrews who finished second and third in 15:14.26 and 15:15.01, respectively. Houlihan, who has always maintained that she was innocent of any doping activity, was emotional as she spoke to reporters. "All of the emotions, right?" said Houlihan.  "I feel like my outdoor season so far has kind of been a little bumpy, not competing as well as I have wanted to, just not feeling good."  She continued: "I felt really good today, really relaxed.  I'm really happy with how the race played out." Cranny, who finished second in Thursday's 10,000m, was happy to get second and claim another team spot.  She told reporters she was likely to double in both events in Tokyo. "Still deciding, but I think so," said Cranny when asked about doubling.  "I feel like the schedule there is a good amount of time.  I'm feeling pretty good now." Andrews, who led most of the final kilometer before falling back then recovering in the final sprint, was overjoyed to make her first national team (her husband Robby was actually crying, she said).  Andrews only finished 11th at the 2024 Olympic Trials, but was fourth at the 2023 national championships where she missed a team berth by just one place. "I was confident that I could get Baily in that last hundred," Andrews told Race Results Weekly.  "I'm just really grateful to be on the team.  Like, the hardest part is getting on the team.  Now that I'm on it, anything is possible." ** The 20th edition of the World Athletics Championships will be held at National Stadium in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.  USA Track & Field will not announce their final team until the conclusion of the global qualifying period, which ends on August 24th.  Athletes who finished in the top three of their events here have earned provisional team spots, but some are not yet qualified, either through their event's entry standard of the World Athletics Rankings.  Also, some athletes have automatic team spots by virtue of winning the world title in 2023, and the 2025 Wanda Diamond League event winners will also get a bye for Tokyo.  There will definitely be changes over the next several weeks. PHOTO: Donavan Brazier winning the 800m at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. EUGENE (30-Jul) -- While American middle distance running has garnered a lot of attention over the last two seasons punctuated by a gold medal and Olympic record for Cole Hocker at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 1500m, athletes in the 5000m have this season brought the longer event to a new zenith.  So far this year five American men --Grant Fisher, Nico Young, Graham Blanks, Cooper Teare, and Cole Hocker-- have broken 13 minutes.  Five of the six-fastest USA marks in history have been set this year, and Fisher (12:44.09) and Young (12:45.27) have run national records indoors and outdoors, respectively (Fisher has the absolute record). "The sport, especially in the U.S., has grown leaps and bounds in the last decade or so," Fisher told reporters here at a press conference in advance of the four-day Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.  "You look at the all-time marks now.  We've had three guys break 12:50 in one year, whereas in the past you might have one guy that would break 13:00 every other year.  The depth is increasing a ton." That depth will be on full display on Sunday afternoon when approximately 25 men will line up for a straight final in which the top three will provisionally qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.  At last year's Olympic Trials, also held here in Eugene, a field of 30 athletes was first narrowed down to 16 through two preliminary heats.  This year's race will more closely resemble a mass-start road race rather than a small, super-elite final. "It gets harder and harder every year," continued Fisher, who won the national 5000m title in both 2024 and 2022 and finished second in 2021.  "There's really stiff competition.  Guys that are younger and younger are training harder and harder, and that is producing way more depth at younger ages.  We have a really competitive 5-K team." Fisher, 28, who won bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics in both the 5000m and 10,000m, is the oldest among the top contenders by at least three years.  Blanks and Young are both 23, Hocker is 24, and Teare is 25.  Fisher is also the only man among the top entrants who will also contest the 10,000m on Thursday (where he is also the defending champion) before running the 5000m on Sunday. "My focus right now is the 10K; that's tomorrow," Fisher told reporters.  "The 10K's first.  Again, very stiff competition.  It doesn't have quite the same depth at the 5-K, but still a very, very competitive field, several sub-27:00 guys.  You look back to ten years ago you've got one guy, maybe, that breaks 27 minutes." While there is no way to predict how Sunday's race will go, it's likely to be tactical.  According to World Athletics, only Fisher, Young, Blanks, Teare and Hocker have achieved the 13:01.00 entry standard for the World Championships.  None of those men will want to push the pace and can focus exclusively on their finish place (the championships record is 13:08.85 by Fisher from 2024).  All of them are strong kickers, especially Hocker, who ran his final 300 meters in the Paris 1500m Olympic final in a sizzling 39.6 seconds.  LetsRun.com's Jonathan Gault described that performance as "one of the greatest closes the sport has ever seen." Fisher also has wheels, and recently ran a lifetime best of 3:48.29 for the mile at the Prefontaine Classic here in Eugene on July 5th.  If anyone beats him on Sunday, that will be an upset, although he acknowledged that both Blanks and Young are formidable competitors at just 23 years-old. "When you look at what Nico and Graham did in college, now that they have made it in the pro ranks you look back like, oh that makes sense," said Fisher, when asked to assess the development of his younger rivals.  "Sometimes there are people who do really well at certain stages, but it doesn't always translate (later).  Those guys are mega-talented, the times and performances they were able to do in college (were amazing).  When I was in college nobody was doing anything remotely close to that." Fisher said that he was in good shape and had tapered for these championships under coach Mike Scannell. "I've been really intentional about when I'm pushing and when I'm not pushing in training," said Fisher, who said that he has to save energy and fitness for the World Championships.  "Little bit of a taper going into this week which feels good because  I've been training hard the past month.  So, the early part of my season was defined by indoors, then after that I was locked-in to Grand Slam.  Took a little bit of downtime.  Now it's been a really, really solid build-up to now." Fisher was also asked whether he had been paid the $200,000 in prize money he is owed by Grand Slam Track for winning the long distance group titles in both the Kingston, Jamaica, and Miami meets.  Meeting organizers said that they planned to pay the Kingston prize money by July 31.  Fisher said he hasn't seen that money yet. "Tomorrow is the last day of July, so they do have a day," Fisher said.  "The last update I heard was that by the end of July they wanted Kingston prize money out.  It has not hit my bank account, or any else's that I know.  So, fingers crossed, but tomorrow would be the last day or, I think, people will be pretty upset." PHOTO: Grant Fisher winning the 5000m at the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials over Abdihamid Nur (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)