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Running USA looks forward to bringing the 2026 Industry Conference presented by haku to St. Louis, Missouri, from Feb. 1-3, 2026. To learn more about the city, its running scene and the Greater St. Louis Marathon, which will run its 25th edition in two weeks, we caught up with Mona Vespa, Executive Director of GO! St. Louis, who has dedicated her career to the organization. Watch the video to get to know Mona and learn more about what St. Louis has in store for us next year!

Running USA held its annual Town Hall meeting for members via virtual meeting on Tuesday, April 1. The meeting covers updates to the membership structure of Running USA, Board of Directors elections, the 2026 Industry Conference, 2025 Global Runner Survey and more! Links referenced in the video: Membership benefits: https://www.runningusa.org/membership/member-benefits/ Strategic plan: https://www.runningusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Running-USA-Strat-Plan-FINAL.pdf Conference registration: https://register.hakuapp.com/?event=04958b1fee4e66e9ebcf Apply to speak at conference: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclTR1WbC6cp4r_NNDmEUWSSqlBhSz8A1_mJ8S45426SuxoYA/viewform HR and PR services: https://www.runningusa.org/running-usa-services-human-resources-consultation-and-press-release-creation/ AED rentals: https://www.aedbrands.com/running-usa-aed-rentals/ Take 2025 Global Runner Survey: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8158751/2025GlobalRunnerSurvey Boston event signup: https://in.njuko.com/2025-running-usa-and-rrca-spring-industry-reception?currentPage=select-competition  

Running USA announces new member benefits and updated membership tiers effective April 1, 2025, reflecting the evolving needs of the running event industry. This marks the first membership update since 2019, offering expanded benefits across six new tiers. See all benefits here. The new benefits are responsive to feedback from Running USA members, including expanded opportunities for networking and industry connection, the addition of professional services, expanded conference discounts and much more. “Running USA serves event organizers, vendors and brands of all sizes including large event companies, family-owned business, nonprofits and for-profit organizations,” said Jay Holder, Executive Director of Running USA. “These membership levels are meant to serve everyone in and deliver the type of benefits that will educate, engage and evolve the running event industry.” Each membership level will include individual account access, with organizations able to assign multiple users depending on their type of membership. Existing memberships will transition at the end of their current billing cycle, ensuring a seamless upgrade transition beginning April 1, 2025 and continuing through April 1, 2026.

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. NEW YORK (13-Mar) -- Four-time Olympian Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal of Norway will hit 35 this June, but is nonetheless coming off of her best-ever year as a runner.  In 2024 the adidas-sponsored athlete ran national records at 3000m (8:27.02), 10K (30:52), and the half-marathon (1:06:55).  She was also successful in championships racing, taking the silver medal at 5000m at the European Athletics Championships, the gold medal in the half-marathon at those same championships, and eighth place at the Paris Olympics in the 5000m. But it was here in New York where Grøvdal enjoyed one of her most satisfying wins.  At the 2024 United Airlines NYC Half last March, Grøvdal rallied in the 17th kilometer to catch Kenyans Gladys Chepkurui and Edna Kiplagat.  Grøvdal had finished third in both the 2022 and 2023 editions of the race and didn't want to land on the third step of the podium again. "I was so tired then," Grøvdal told reporters.  "Just thinking, it's third this year also.  But then, I don't know.  I just tried to don't get the gap too big.  Suddenly, I was just behind them again." She ended up dropping the Kenyan duo and went on to win by a comfortable 18 seconds, stretching her arms high as she broke the finish tape in Central Park near Tavern on the Green.  The $20,000 first prize wasn't bad, either. "It's up there," Grøvdal said when asked how last year's victory compared with the other important wins in her long international career which began when she was just 15 years-old.  "I have three European golds.  They are big, but I think this is right around that one." Grøvdal credits consistent training and staying healthy for her late-career success, and she's excited to defend her NYC Half title on Sunday. "I'm not sure what's the secret," Grøvdal told Race Results Weekly today in an interview in Times Square.  "I had a lot of years now with no injury.  I've been training well; I think that's the key.  And, of course, I started the season with this race last year and with a win, so it was a very good start."  She continued: "It's just many years with a lot of work." Varying her running has also been important to Grøvdal, who enjoys cross country, track, and road running equally.  Although she missed last December's European Athletics Cross Country Championships --an event in which she has a record 10 individual medals-- she did place 13th in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships last March. "I think that's what motivates me, to do a lot of races," Grøvdal explained.  "I love cross country, I love roads, and I love track.  So, I've always been very into competing, and competing in different distances from shorter to longer.  I think that's very important to me to have the drive to do running, actually." Remarkably Grøvdal is still maintaining --and even improving-- her speed.  Over the last three seasons she has lowered her half-marathon best to 1:08:07 in 2022, 1:07:34 in 2023, and then 1:06:55 last year.  She's also run season-best times for 5000m of 14:31.07, 14:45.24 and 14:38.62 for 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively.  That made her the fastest European at that distance for 2022, and the third-fastest for both 2023 and 2024. That's noteworthy for an athlete who races half the time or more on the roads. "I just think when I'm in good shape I can do all the distances very good, and now is my first year I am training for a marathon.  Everybody tells me you get slower now.  So, hopefully I will run fast at 5 and 10K still, because I think I have to improve my 5 and 10K for the marathon, also." Grøvdal's first marathon is on the immediate horizon. She has chosen to try the distance at the Haspa Marathon Hamburg, the same event where two-time Olympic Marathon gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge made his debut.  She could have run in London (on the same day) and surely made a solid appearance fee, but in Hamburg she'll be able to run with less pressure and bring her own male pacers (the TCS London Marathon uses an all-women's elite race). "My plan is to run in Hamburg the 27th of April," Grøvdal said.  She continued: "It was that one or London.  But I think for my first marathon maybe it's good to have a more low-key (race).  I can have two guys who helping with the pacing; London is the women-only.  So, I think it will be a good place to start, then I do a fall marathon." On Sunday Grøvdal --and the approximately 27,000 other runners in the field-- will compete on a new course from Brooklyn to Manhattan which will cross the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time.  Her main rivals will be Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel, Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, Emily Sisson and Fiona O’Keeffe of the United States, and Calli Hauger-Thackery of Great Britain. "We like to call the New York City Half 'the one to run,'" said New York Road Runners CEO Rob Simmelkjaer at a press conference this morning.  "We're excited to go over the Brooklyn Bridge." PHOTO: Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal of Norway in Times Square in advance of the 2025 United Airlines NYC Half (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)  

ATLANTA (02-Mar) - In near-freezing temperatures with biting winds, Alex Maier and Taylor Roe of North Carolina-based Puma Elite Running won the USATF Half Marathon Championships this morning in dramatic fashion.  The former Oklahoma State All-Americans survived fast, early paces in their respective races, then used their strength to pull away from their remaining rivals in the final miles.  Both athletes won their first national titles, $20,000 in prize money, and guaranteed berths on Team USATF for the World Athletics Road Running Championships. "They did OK," joked their coach Alistair Cragg.  "For two youngsters at this level they acted like old veterans out there.  It was great; fun to see." KELATI BLOWS OPEN WOMEN'S RACE National half-marathon record holder Weini Kelati (Under Armour / Dark Sky Distance), made the first big move in the women's race.  After following the solid early pace set by Emily Venters (Nike) who went through 5 km in 16:15, Kelati surged in the sixth mile, splitting 10 km in 32:03 with an eight-second lead over Roe, Emma Grace Hurley (Asics / Heartland TC), Amanda Vestri (Brooks / ZAP Endurance), and Jess McClain (Brooks). "Pretty decisive move," said 2004 Olympian Carrie Tollefson on the race broadcast. Indeed, it looked like Kelati, whose personal best of 1:06:09 was over a minute faster than any other woman in the field, would run away with the race.  But in the eighth mile, Roe and Hurley began to work together to reel her in. "Taylor got moving and I went with her," Hurley told Race Results Weekly.  "She kind of made a comment to me, like, 'let's go try to catch her,' so we tried to pick it up and gain on Weini."  She added: "It was awesome to be chasing her." Forty-three minutes and five seconds into the race, Roe and Hurley caught Kelati.  The trio ran together only briefly before Roe pressed the pace and she and Hurley began to pull away.  By the 15 km point (47:50) Hurley had just run a 15:39 5-kilometer segment with Roe just one second behind.  Kelati was eight seconds back, and Vestri was running alone in fourth place after pulling away from Venters. Hurley - who grew up in nearby Roswell and formerly represented the Atlanta Track Club - knew the course better than Roe, and made good use of the many short hills in the latter stages of the race. She built a small gap on Roe, but the 2023 Big 12 5000m champion had more in the tank.  Roe pulled even with Hurley, then began to get away.  She felt confident in her fitness based on the training she had done with her group which includes Fiona O'Keeffe, the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon champion. "I train with some of the best people, best in the world, best in the U.S.," Roe said in her post-race broadcast interview.  "I came in with confidence.  What my competitors are going to do to me today is nothing I haven't faced in practice." Roe ran alone to the finish in the Home Depot Backyard adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and broke the tape in 1:07:22.  She smashed her personal best by nearly a minute and a half, and made her first national team. "It's good news, but it's bad news that I have to run another half-marathon," Roe said with a laugh.  She added: "I'm really glad, grateful." Hurley, who only finished 89th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in her senior year at Furman University, held on to second place and finished in a big personal best of 1:07:35.  Like Roe, today's race was only Hurley's second half marathon and she thought that she got her tactics nearly right. "I may have gone a bit early, although I think sometimes in the race if you're feeling good it's OK to take a little bit of a risk," Hurley told Race Results Weekly.  She continued: "It was so special to be out there today." Kelati struggled in the final kilometers of the race, and was passed by Vestri, McClain and Venters (she finished sixth in 1:09:07).  Vestri held on for third, and in her third half-marathon clinched her first national team berth in 1:08:17.  She was very happy with her race. "By the grace of God," Vestri said, when asked how she maintained her composure in the final stages of today's competition.  "That was the only thing I was holding on to towards the end.  I was like, God, just get me through this.  Miles eight to twelve I was suffering pretty bad." McClain finished fourth, the same position as in last year's USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon.  But the 33 year-old from Phoenix was pleased with a new personal best of 1:08:37 while in the middle of her mileage-heavy Boston Marathon build-up. "It's OK," said McClain, who had trouble getting her words out because her jaw was so cold.  "I would much rather take fourth than Amanda.  I'm happy."  She added: "I felt really good on the hills; that's a good sign for Boston." Given the cold temperatures, strong winds, and hilly course, it was remarkable that the first ten women broke 1:10. BOR TAKES IT OUT HARD Two-time Olympic steeplechaser Hillary Bor (Hoka) stated his intentions early in the men's race, going right to the front from the gun.  He clicked off the first two miles in 4:37 and 4:28, respectively, and built up a small lead.  But by the 5 km point (14:06) the main pack of Teshome Mekonen (On), Nate Martin (Asics), Joe Klecker (On Athletics Club), Andrew Colley (ZAP Endurance), Ahmed Muhumed (Hoka NAZ Elite), Shadrack Kipchirchir (Puma / American Distance Project), and Maier were with him again. "You know I looked at the entries and I knew there were a lot of 10K guys," Bor told Race Results Weekly.  "I didn't want it to come down to a kick."  He added: "I knew if I was going to make the team I had to run my own race." Bor, Martin, Mekonen and Muhumed got away in the fourth mile, but the chase pack --led by Colley-- closed them down just a mile later.  Bor was still leading at the 10 km point (28:27), but the pack had grown to nine: Bor, Mekonen, Muhumed, Martin, Colley, Klecker, Maier, Kipchirchir, and Ryan Ford (ZAP Endurance).  Bor decided to put in another move, and he and Mekonen started pulling away from the field in the eighth mile, but then he backed off his pace again. "I was expecting someone to come with me," said Bor.  "When I got to mile seven I didn't want to run all the second half by myself.  I slowed down, waited for the crew and run with the group." By the 15 km mark (42:55) only Klecker, Martin and Mekonen had been dropped.  That's when Maier asserted himself.  He got on the front, and started to pull the field single-file.  Only Bor and Kipchirchir could stay with his pace.  Like his teammate Roe, he was feeling confident. "I mean, I knew I was capable of it," said the 24 year-old Maier.  "I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself coming into it.  I'm still relatively new to marathons, half-marathons.  I felt like I was in a good place fitness-wise." With about a mile to go, Maier dropped both Bor and Kipchirchir.  He ran unchallenged to the finish, breaking Publix-branded finish tape in 1:00:48, a three-second personal best. "It was about going out and running my best race," said Maier, who enjoyed the hilly course.  "It reminds me a lot of Oklahoma State, training on our cross country course.  Our cross country course is super hilly, right?  So, I feel like I was very in my element today." Kipchirchir edged Bor for second, 1:00:58 to 1:00:59.  Kipchirchir, the 2022 USATF cross country champion, got a personal best.  Bor was disappointed not to get the victory. "I wanted to win," Bor told reporters.  "Every time I start on the line I want to win.  But, at the end of the day I ran my race, I made the team, and I'm glad for Shaddy.  This is a strong guy.  It's good to compete." Muhumed took fourth in 1:01:03, a personal best, and Colley - who did a lot of the work mid-race - was fifth in 1:01:09.  He had hoped to make the team after recovering from a virus and training well. "I didn't really have any expectations for how it would run out," Colley told Race Results Weekly.  "The glutes started seizing up when everybody started moving and I tried to just stay focused and keep an eye on them.  I got closer, but by the time I started feeling good again it was gone." PHOTO: Taylor Roe winning the 2025 USATF Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)