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(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. (18-Jun) - After a difficult year where an adductor injury forced him to be sidelined and miss the USA Olympic Team Trials and, by extension, the Paris Olympics, Joe Klecker has begun a new phase of his career where he is focused on road racing.  The 28-year-old, who trains with the On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colo., had never run a road race longer than a mile until this January.  But since the beginning of this year he has run five, highly-competitive road races and will do a sixth, the Boston 10K, on Sunday.  It's a transition that he and coach Dathan Ritzenhein had planned for a while, even if the timing had changed. "The big picture was always in the off-year after Tokyo (2025 World Championships), make that transition," Klecker explained to Race Results Weekly in a telephone interview on Tuesday.  "Then I got injured, pretty significantly, and we kind of thought that this might be the right time to push it up a year." Klecker had a complicated injury involving the intersection of his left adductor, a muscle on the inside of the thigh, and his abdominal muscles.  He announced in May, 2024, that he could not make it to the starting line for the Trials where he had hoped to make his second Olympic team in the 10,000m.  What he didn't know at the time was that the injury would take the better part of a year to heal, and still lingered into January, 2025, when he made his half-marathon debut at the Aramco Half-Marathon in Houston. "It was an interesting injury," said the always-thoughtful Klecker.  "I would say it lingered until about December, or January, around the time of Houston.  I would say I was 90% healed, but it was the type of thing that after a hard effort, you'd still have some awareness of the injury. But, for the last three months, since February or March, it's been completely gone." The Houston event was a road racing baptism by fire.  It's America's fastest half-marathon, and on a cold morning the pack went out at 14:02 for the first 5K and 28:01 for 10K.  That was too hot for Klecker whose splits were a more reasonable 14:13 and 28:38.  He ran a very solid 1:01:06, but finished 18th, nearly two minutes behind the winner.  It was at that moment that he realized that there was going to be a bigger learning curve than he thought to master the roads. "The original plan was just to do Houston and then go into a track season," Klecker said.  "But once I did Houston I just kind of saw the level that the roads were at.  I was like, wow, this is going to be a bigger transition than I thought."  He added: "Those guys were ripping." Ritzenhein was on the same page. "That injury he had in spring of '24 was tough to miss out on his second Olympic team," Ritzenhein told Race Results Weekly in a text message.  "But I'm amazed how dedicated he was to the transition to the roads after that. It's been a longer process than we thought." Klecker decided to do another half-marathon in early March, the USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta.  That was a completely different kind of race, held on a hilly course with a lot of turns and with no pacemakers.  He ran a similar time, 1:01:34, but had a better competitive experience. "That one I was ready for the punches, early," said Klecker, who finished eighth in an all-American field.  "That one, Hillary Bor really fartleked that race.  We took it out in about a 4:20 mile, and we were running very fast for the first, eight to ten miles of that course.  We were just ripping."  He continued: "I was very proud of a lot of stuff in that race.  It was very close to being a great day.  It was just around ten miles that I lost the pack." But Klecker was getting more comfortable racing in 40mm stack-height road shoes and managing the varied terrain and surges of road racing.  When he went into the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in Washington, D.C., on April 6 (another USATF Championships), he was ready for the hard, early miles.  He was with the leaders at 5K in a very fast 13:58, and just a few seconds back at 10K in 28:12, effectively setting a new road PB for that distance. But the course has several sharp turns, including a 180-degree turnaround after the 10K mark.  Klecker fell back on those turns forcing him to surge in order to catch up, using valuable energy.  He finished ninth in 46:08.  More lessons were learned. "I learned a lot from that one," Klecker said.  "I knew it was going to be fast and I wanted to kind of sit in the pack, but... there are a lot of turns.  If you sit in the back of the pack, a pack of like ten people, can really string out around these turns.  And then you really have to work hard to bring it back together.  With how fast the pace was I was really putting in a lot of energy every turn." With plenty of miles in his legs and all of the learning from the first three races, Klecker put together his best road race at the USATF 25-K Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich., on May 10.  He not only wanted to win that race, but also wanted to use the race as a marathon simulation because, in practical terms, 25 kilometers is the longest an athlete can race in the United States without doing the full marathon distance. Competing against Casey Clinger and Hillary Bor, the trio split the half-marathon in 1:01:14, essentially the time he ran in Houston back in January, but now he had another four kilometers to run. "I was leading for probably 14 miles," Klecker recounted.  "I didn't have so much of a plan, but during the race I know Hillary would probably want to throw in some surges.  To kind of play the mental game, whenever he tried to throw in a surge I would counter with my own surge.  I could sense him getting a little bit frustrated during that race, which is some of the fun aspect of the battle that we had." Clinger set a national record of 1:12:17 to get the win, and Klecker finished second in 1:12:32, also well under the previous national record.  Things were starting to click for Klecker. "I was actually able to feel like I was racing, versus trying just to hang on to a pack, which is how it felt in Atlanta and at Cherry Blossom," Klecker said.  "I was really just reacting and trying to hang on, versus really feeling like I'm breaking my competitors, or trying to break them with moves and surges.  It's really empowering." As a former University of Colorado Buffalo, Klecker thought it was important to run the high-altitude BOLDERBoulder 10K on Memorial Day, even though it was only 16 days after the Grand Rapids race.  His legs were not fully recovered, but it was thrilling to enter a packed football stadium where the race finishes.  He placed a solid sixth in 29:13. "After Grand Rapids Dathan came up to me and said, look, this is going to take a lot out of you," Klecker recounted.  "We really need to think if we're going to do Bolder Boulder still.  It's so hard to pass up a race of that caliber which is literally a ten minute drive from my house." Klecker passed up the USATF 4-Mile Championships last Saturday in Peoria, Ill., so he could be fully rested and prepared for Sunday's 10K in Boston.  He's looking forward to a high level of competition, but also a mostly-flat, sea level course. "Dathan always says that the number of miles the race is, that's how many days it takes until you start feeling good again," Klecker said.  He continued: "We took the 4-mile championship off the calendar so that we made sure we got in three weeks of good training.  Last week we started resting-up, then this week more rest.  I told Dathan going into this one I want to make sure I'm on fresh legs." From Boston, Klecker may be headed back to the track.  Or not.  He's eyeing the 10,000m which will be held at the Prefontaine Classic on July 5th as a possible return to the track (the race will be the Kenyan Trials for the World Championships).  If he runs there and has a great day, he might do the USATF Track and Field Championships at the end of July and try for a team spot for Tokyo. Maybe. "I'm not holding too firm to any plans because my most important race is always my next race," Klecker said.  "Tentatively, I want to run the 10K at Pre and see how that goes, then maybe put a 5K on the calendar."  He continued: "Depending on what I run at Pre, if I run 27:10, no.  If I run 27-flat, maybe.  But I think the faster I run at Pre that would set the gauge for do I want to run at the Trials and try to make Tokyo.  It's not the focus that it was in years past." For the fall, Klecker is keeping his options open.  He might make a marathon debut, or do a slate of shorter road races.  Moving up to the marathon is the main goal, but he and Coach Ritzenhein are flexible on the timing, and on the specific race. "Since Grand Rapids went really well, we'll consider one this fall," said Klecker.  "We haven't committed to anything yet, but it's definitely on the table to do a debut this fall."  He continued: "I think getting the experience earlier is very valuable.  That's kind of what Grand Rapids showed me, that everything with the training is trending in that direction." PHOTO: Joe Klecker competing at the 2025 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in Washington, D.C. (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

Organizing a race is more than just planning a fast, fun course—it’s about building an event that embraces all athletes, including those with disabilities. On June 10, 2025, Achilles International teamed up with Running USA to host a webinar titled “Best Practices for Making Your Race More Accessible.” Find key takeaways on the Achilles International website here Panelists Francesco Magisano, Director, NYC Metro, at Achilles International, and Janet Patton, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Achilles International, offered a wealth of actionable insights across every stage of race planning—from registration to post-finish celebrations. 1. Registration Simplify sign-up: Ensure your online process and race forms are compatible with assistive technologies and include accommodations for guide runners. Gather participant info: Provide options to disclose wheelchair use, handcycles, guides, etc., to tailor support. Show representation: Use inclusive images and proper alt text to reflect diverse participants. Facilitate communication: Allow participants to request a guide runner directly and consider offering guides free of charge. Centralize resources: Create a dedicated web page outlining athlete resources and maintain open email contact for accommodation questions. 2. Pre-Race Planning Thoughtful logistics: Include accessibility in corrals, announcements, start times, and volunteer/staff training. Educate volunteers: Teach the difference between racing wheelchairs, handcycles, etc., so support teams and spectators understand and celebrate appropriately. Clear communication: Warn participants and staff about arrival times for wheeled athletes and potential safety issues. Facility readiness: Ensure accessible restrooms and bag drop areas; consider ASL interpreters and sensory calm-down zones. Course insight: Alert athletes and guides beforehand about terrain challenges or layout changes. 3. On-Course Considerations Barrier-free route: Limit curbs, stairs, narrow paths, cobblestones, and sharp turns—adapt or detour where needed. Safety protocols: Enforce speed rules, use warning flags or signage, and assign bike escorts when appropriate. Mechanical aid: Station quick-repair crews for wheelchairs/handcycles; flag low-profile handcycles for better visibility. 4. Post-Race & Celebration Accessible finish area: Design flow patterns that accommodate adaptive equipment and personal assistants. Equitable ceremonies: Structure award ceremonies and recovery zones with wheelchair users in mind. Visible signage: Ensure directional and informational signs serve all athletes. Acknowledgment: Recognize athletes with disabilities in speeches and awards to elevate inclusion. Key takeaways: You don’t have to implement everything at once. Even one simple tweak—like adding an accommodation email or guide request field—can make a meaningful difference. These incremental steps pave the way for a more inclusive race experience. When in doubt, treat athletes with disabilities with the same patience, respect, and care you’d want. At the heart of inclusivity lies empathy—and every thoughtful adjustment enriches the event for all participants.  

We sat down with Keith Hildebrandt, the President and Founder of AED Brands, to explore a powerful new partnership with Running USA. Under Keith’s leadership—having launched AED Brands back in 2004 with a mission to support compliant, life-saving AED programs nationwide—AED Brands now offers Automated External Defibrillator (AED) rentals specifically tailored for running events through a collaboration with Running USA. Keith shares how this rental program empowers race organizers to enhance on-course safety without the burden of permanent AED installations—making cutting-edge defibrillator access flexible, affordable, and reliable. Learn more as he outlines the program's design and how it’s elevating athlete safety at races across the country.  

NEW YORK (06-Jun) -- There may not be lights, but there will be cameras and plenty of action. The 53rd edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10K, scheduled here for Saturday at 8 a.m. in Central Park, is really an extension of this city's famous theater district about one mile to the south.  It's a big production, with stars, a supporting cast, an audience, and thousands of extras. "The sense of joy and camaraderie at the Mini is unlike anything else," said New York Road Runners board chair Nenna Lynch at a press conference today. She's right.  The Mini, along with the TCS New York City Marathon and New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile, is one of New York Road Runners' three signature events with a long history.  The Mini was founded in 1972, just three weeks before the passage of Title IX.  There were no road races for women then and the Mini changed that forever.  Seventy-two women finished the first edition of the race which was won by 17 year-old Jacki Dixon, who covered the then-six-mile course in 37:02. "I was just hanging on the last five miles," said Dixon, who is now the mayor of Loveland, Colo., under her married name of Jacki Marsh. Like women's running, the Mini grew slowly.  It wasn't until 1978 that the race had over 3,000 finishers, and it didn't hit the 5,000 mark until 1985.  L'eggs, a brand of women's hosiery, sponsored the race from 1978 through 1990, then Advil took over from 1991 through 1997.  The current title sponsor, Mastercard, didn't come on board until the 2021 race (the first edition after the COVID pandemic shutdown), and this will be the fifth year that the credit card company will have its name on the race.  New York Road Runners officials expect over 10,000 women to finish the race (there were a record 9,688 finishers last year). Of course, some of the greatest female distance runners have won the Mini, including Norwegians Grete Waitz (five times) and Ingrid Kristiansen (twice).  Kenya's Tegla Loroupe won five times, as did Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat.  Another Kenyan star, Mary Keitany, won the race three times. This year's race features a superstar cast of Olympians and other fast women, like Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon champions Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi of Kenya; like American Olympians Weini Kelati, Emily Sisson, Emily Infeld, and Dakotah Popehn; and American up-and-comers like Taylor Roe, Emma Grace Hurley and Amanda Vestri.  Each of them would love to become a Mini winner. But the real stars are the nearly quarter million women who have finished the Mini since the race's inception.  Fast and slow, black and white, young and old, these women have come from all places and walks of life to celebrate the joy of running, to have a race they can call their own.  This is just as true now as it was back in 1972. "I absolutely love all-women's races," said women's running pioneer Marilyn Bevans who, at 75 years-old, will run the Mini for the 14th time.  "I absolutely love it." And if you're a man, the Mini has a place for you, too.  Get over the Central Park tomorrow, find a spot along the course, and cheer for these active women.  It's one of the greatest off-Broadway shows you can see, and admission is free. PHOTO: New York Road Runners chief commercial officer Christine Burke (left) with women's running pioneer Marilyn Bevans (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)  

(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. NEW YORK (05-Jun) -- Halfway through the 2024 Mastercard New York Mini 10K here in Central Park, Amanda Vestri quickly took stock of her position.  She was running in fourth place and the three women who were just one-second ahead of her --Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia, and Sharon Lokedi and Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya-- were among the world's best road runners.  It was time to test herself. "My goal was to be top American in the race," she told Race Results Weekly a year ago.  "So, there was a moment in time when it was either stay back with the chunk of the Americans or go ahead with the faster women at the front." Vestri, now 25, stayed cool as the three Africans eventually pulled away.  She went into grind mode and pushed through the second half alone.  Somehow, she managed to achieve a negative split (15:40 for the first half and 15:37 for the second), and finished fourth in a personal best 31:17.  She earned $7500 in prize money, a hugely important payday for a runner who was part of a well-established training group but had no shoe company sponsorship at the time. "That's probably one of the first things that my coach (Pete Rea of ZAP Endurance) mentioned to me after the race," Vestri said in a telephone interview yesterday when asked about that negative split.  She continued: "Obviously, the goal is the same this year, just to go faster." Vestri --along with another 10,000 women-- will race the 53rd edition of the Mini here on Saturday, the world's first-ever road race for women, founded in 1972 by New York Road Runners.  She is part of an incredible elite field which includes some of the very best American distance women, like Olympians Weini Kelati, Emily Sisson, Emily Infeld, and Dakotah Popehn.  Abbott World Majors champions Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, and Gotytom Gebreslase are also in the field (Teferi will not be back to defend her title). Vestri comes into this year's Mini as a completely different athlete from a year ago.  Working with her agent Josh Cox, she picked up a sponsorship with Brooks Running (based, at least in part, on her Mini performance), and has been stacking up months of quality training under Coach Rea and his deputy Ryan Warrenburg. "I just feel like the consistency that we had built throughout the last summer of 2023, after I graduated, and then into 2024 started compounding," Vestri explained.  "Month after month, I just felt like I was getting better and better, and training seemed to be getting better every month, even every week." After her Mini success, Vestri has achieved extraordinary growth as an athlete.  She took fifth in the USA Olympic Team Trials 10,000m last summer just three weeks after the Mini, beaten only by Weini Kelati, Parker Valby, Karissa Schweizer, and Jessica McClain.  She got second at the USATF 6K road running championships, and sixth at the USATF 10K road running championships. A year earlier it seemed unlikely that she would be a factor in those races, but her run at the Mini changed all that. "It just kind of all culminated at the New York Mini," Vestri said.  "That's why this race is so special to me.  I don't know; it just kind of gave me a different confidence as a runner."  She added: "I'm excited to be back." Vestri wanted to try the half-marathon distance last fall, and Coach Rea was all-in.  She had planned to peak for the Valencia Half-Marathon at the end of October, but a little injury forced her to push back her schedule.  Instead of taking the long trip to Spain, Vestri went to Florida and ran in the low-key OUC Orlando Half-Marathon last December.  She popped a solo 1:08:12 in her debut making her the fourth-fastest American for 2024. "My coach and I always wanted to go up to the half this past fall," Vestri said.  "The plan was to do the Valencia Half-Marathon because we were just like, we want to run fast.  We want to go as far under 67 minutes as we can, and when I had that hiccup, that little injury, in October we were like, OK, we have to re-route now.  So, I took a few weeks off, and I'm actually the one who brought up the idea of doing Orlando just as a rust-buster, not for a good time.  I went into that race going, if I run under 70 minutes I'm going to be stoked.  So for me, it came as quite a shock that I came across the line close to 68 minutes.  I guess I didn't realize how good it was at the time." She ran even faster at the Aramco Half-Marathon last January, arguably the most competitive half-marathon in the United States.  She finished fourth in 1:07:35 after smoking through 10K in 31:40 and ten miles in 51:17.  Remarkably, Vestri wasn't satisfied with that performance because her expectations had risen. "We started thinking better numbers in Houston because we know how stacked Houston is," Vestri said.  "Houston is another one of those races I feel, and my coaches feel, was an under-performance day.  I kind of grade myself on effort and performance outcomes after the race."  She continued: "Houston should have been a 67-flat day, or under.  That's where my fitness was at at the time." Vestri would run one more half in that training cycle, the USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta on March 2, part of the Publix Atlanta Marathon Weekend hosted by the Atlanta Track Club.  On a raw and windy day, she took third on a hilly course in 1:08:17 behind Taylor Roe (1:07:22) and Emma Grace Hurley (1:07:35).  She qualified for Team USATF for the (now cancelled) 2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships. "Atlanta was just a grind fest," Vestri lamented.  "I felt really, really bad the whole way.  That one was all heart.  There was no good feelings for me in that race, physically." Since then Vestri has raced three times, from the mile to 10,000m.  She was happy with two of them, but the third was a big disappointment for her.  At The TEN in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., on March 29, she finished 18th in 31:56.56, nowhere near what she had hoped for. "That race was one of the ugliest races of my life," Vestri groaned.  She continued: "When me and my coaches sat down after that race, we all think that what happened is that the three half-marathons, which was a new distance for me last year, in the span of three months that I did it in was just too much on my body and I did not give myself a chance to recover after them.  We were asking my body a little too much at that point." Vestri's most recent race, a 5000m personal best at the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles on May 24, went much better.  She finished fifth in a personal best 15:01.22.  That came on the heels of a 4:47.8 road mile in North Carolina, a race she did for training.  Those two races stimulated a different part of her aerobic system, part of her quest to be a more complete athlete. "We're going to dip down now," said Vestri, who explained that she needed to also work on her speed.  "It's not going to be comfortable; it's going to feel like you're sprinting.  But, at the end of the day that's only going to help your 5K, which is going to help your 10K, which is going to help your half-marathon, which is going to help your marathon.  That's kind of the approach that we took for that one." Reflecting on the past 12 months, Vestri has learned a lot about professional running and about herself.  She's learned to trust the key people who are in her corner, she understands better the business end of the sport, and she's learned not to worry too much about the approval of others.  She's also trying not to be so hard on herself. "Because I take my workouts so seriously I do have those high expectations for myself," she said.  "It's me putting those expectations on myself, it's no one else.  I just feel like that's always how I've been.  I think that's ingrained in a lot of runners.  We're always, like, type-A, I feel.  I envy the type-B runners.  I know some type-B runners and I'm like, I wish I was you." The 2025 Mastercard New York Mini 10K will be broadcast LIVE and FREE on four different platforms on Saturday beginning at 7:45 a.m. EDT: . WABC-TV . ESPN+ . abc7.ny.com . NYRR Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@nyrrvideo) PHOTO: Amanda Vestri after finishing third at the 2025 USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta on March 2 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)