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(c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission. (29-May) -- Even elite athletes have bucket list races, and for former USA marathon record holder Keira D'Amato the Delightful Run For Women (formerly the Freihofer's Run for Women) has been high on her list.  The 39 year-old D'Amato has wanted to do that classic all-women's 5-K in Albany, N.Y., for years, and this Saturday she'll be on the starting line for the first time.  It will be the 46th edition of the race which was founded in 1979. "I am so excited," D'Amato told Race Results Weekly in a telephone interview from her home in Virginia.  "I've had this race on my radar for years."  She continued: "I've always wanted to do it and it finally worked out this year." D'Amato, who dropped out of the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon last February after 20 miles, is using the Delightful Run as part of her preparations for the USA Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field next month in Eugene, Ore., where she'll run the 10,000m.  She and coach Scott Raczko had already planned for her to do a fast three miles this weekend, and D'Amato thought that doing it in a race would provide her with an extra level of motivation. "I was going to have to do, like, a quick three miles this weekend," D'Amato explained.  "So, it's really easy to substitute that for a race because that would have mirrored what I would have simulated in training.  To me, it's much more fun to do it in a race."  She added: "Training has been going well, workouts have been going well.  I feel like my speed has been coming back."   Moreover, D'Amato would love to get a win.  She hasn't won a race since last October when she won the Abbott Chicago 5-K --held the weekend of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon-- in 15:51. "This year I don't have a lot of wins under my belt," D'Amato observed.  "My coach and I were like, Keira, you're having the most fun when you're racing.  I think going to a race and just competing, and getting back to the core of what I love about running, I think that would be really good for the season." D'Amato is coming off a DNF at the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs in London 11 days ago.  She had hoped to hit the Olympic Games qualifying standard of 30:40.00, or at least run well enough to raise her ranking in the World Athletics points system.  However, the conditions weren't to her liking, and about three quarters of the way through the race she decided to step off the track. "It was warm and it was humid and I realized about four miles in that I wasn't going to hit the time I was going for, and it wouldn't help my ranking," D'Amato said.  "To be really honest, track is a lot harder on my body than the roads.  It takes me a lot longer to recover from a track race than a road race.  When I realized I wasn't hitting the time I wasn't going to risk something going wrong with my body.  I really thought I was in shape to hit the Olympic standard." The Delightful Run for Women should also help D'Amato sharpen up for the Mastercard New York Mini 10-K which takes place in New York City a week later.  D'Amato will face a loaded field there, including the 2024 USA Olympic Marathon team of Fiona O'Keeffe, Emily Sisson and Dakotah Lindwurm. "Before a fast 10-K next week, hopefully running something a little bit faster this weekend will just help my body get ready to go out hard in that 10-K," she said. Looking ahead to the race in Albany --where her top competitors will be Anne-Marie Blaney, Jessie Cardin, and Amy Davis-Green of the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project-- D'Amato has studied the fast, out-and-back course.  The overall event record is 15:12 by Kenya's Emily Chebet set in 2010, and the fastest time ever by an American is 15:25 by Marla Runyan in 2003.  The race had served as the USATF 5-K Championships for women from 1993 through 2004. "I've seen that you kind of climb a hill, run around a lake, and climb back down," said D'Amato, who delivered that line like a stand-up comic.  "It seems like a course where experience running it will be helpful.  I'll go around Friday and run it just to make sure I know what I'm doing."   PHOTO: Keira D'Amato finishing fifth at the 2023 Mastercard New York Mini 10-K in 31:23 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved PHOTO: Josh Kerr winning the Bowerman Mile at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly) EUGENE (25-May) -- Making a bold push to the front with about 600 meters to go, Britain's Josh Kerr held off both Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Yared Nuguse of the United States to win the Bowerman Mile at today's Prefontaine Classic in a world-leading 3:45.34.  Kerr, the reigning world 1500m champion, also broke Steve Cram's British record which had stood for nearly 39 years, and gave fans at Hayward Field a preview of what the Olympic 1500m final might look like in Paris in August. "I was available for whatever pace it was," the bearded Kerr told reporters.  "I didn't ask for any certain 800 splits, or anything like that.  I just rolled with the punches a little bit and raced it like a championships race." Kerr, 26, who won the World Athletics Indoor Championships 3000-meter title 84 days ago, demonstrated his mastery of tactics today.  He ran in the pack behind pacemaker Abe Alvarado through 800m in 1:52.8, then surprised his main rivals by moving brusquely to the lead in the third quarter of the race.  It was a risky call, but there was no time for self-doubt. "Because I thought it was a dumb decision," he said when asked why he surged so early.  "I knew if I thought it was a dumb decision then it probably was, and that was going to scare myself and everyone else around me.  Just testing myself early-on in the season." Both Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse reacted, as did Kerr's fellow Scotsman Jake Wightman, the 2022 world champion.  The field stretched out and Kerr just kept pressing. "Today it was like, how can I win this race, and if I'm going to win this race it's probably going to be under 3:46," Kerry continued.  "So, it was a good day." Ingebrigtsen, who told reporters yesterday that his winter training "wasn't perfect," demonstrated excellent speed for an athlete who had just come off of altitude training and hadn't raced since last September.  He clocked 3:45.60, comfortably ahead of Nuguse (3:46.22).  The always-combative Ingebrigtsen was satisfied with his race which demonstrated that his fitness was headed in the right direction. "I feel that it was a pretty good performance," said Ingebrigtsen.  "It's a pretty good start.  I'm not a fan of the mile event by itself because it has nothing to do with my culture --it's definitely something British and American which I'm not that familiar with. It's a very good start.  I have lost quite a bit of training this winter, and for me I perform out of consistency, more or less." Nuguse, the USA mile record-holder both indoors and out, was also satisfied with how he ran. "I still feel like I'm in a good position strength-wise to keep with them and stick in a place that I wanted to be," Nuguse said.  "I think now it's just working that last little 100 bit that I usually have a little stronger."  He continued: "It's a really good start for the meat and potatoes of the outdoor season." Wightman ended up fifth in a personal best 3:47.83, bagging his 2024 Olympic Games qualifying mark (3:50.40 or better).  He was passed by another Scotsman, Neil Gourley, who finished fourth in 3:47.74.  Australia's Oliver Hoare, the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500m champion, finished ninth in 3:49.11, also getting a Paris qualifier. As exciting as the mile was, the meet started in the morning with a pending world record in the 10,000-meters by two-time world cross country champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya: 28:54.14.  The 24 year-old was trying to secure her place on the Kenyan Olympic team by finishing in the top-2 here (Athletics Kenya had designated the Prefontaine Classic as their Olympic Trials race for the 10,000m).  Latching on to Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay for 22 of the 25 laps, she surged into the lead in the final kilometer and ran laps of 68.4, 68.1 and 63.7 to get the record. "We did not come for a world record," Chebet told reporters, looking a little stunned.  "For us, Kenya, we came for Trials for Paris.  When Gudaf asked for world record, then for me I decided to say, let me try to go with her to see how the body is."  She continued: "When I see Gudaf drop a bit I decide to push to see how it goes." Chebet broke the existing record of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey in Hengelo in 2021.  Tsegay, who finished second here today, got close to that mark, running 29:05.92. "My target is I try for world record," Tsegay told reporters in English.  She continued: "Sometimes it's like that.  No problem.  Congratulations for Chebet; very fast time." Third place Lilian Rengeruk (29:26.89) locked in the second Kenyan team berth (the third athlete will be picked by committee).  She finished just ahead of Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, who clocked 29:27.59 and also has a chance of being named to the Kenyan team. The men's 10,000m, which also served as the Kenyan Trials, saw the win go to Daniel Mateiko in a personal best and world-leading 26:50.81.  In a thrilling four-man sprint, Mateiko beat Nicholas Kipkorir (26:50.94), Benard Kibet (26:51.09) and Edwin Kurgat (26:51.54).  Kurgat was actually the race leader coming off of the final bend, but faded in the last 20 meters. "I wanted to give myself a chance," said Kurgat, who competed for Iowa State University during his collegiate career.  "I knew we were four and they only needed two as the one who would be chosen."  He continued: "I have no regrets.  I'm really, really happy." Daniel Ebenyo, the 2023 World Championships silver medalist in the 10,000m, fell and finished eighth. Also happy was Britain's Keely Hodgkinson in the women's 800m.  The 2021 Olympic silver medalist launched her long drive for home with about 120 meters to go and swept past reigning world champion Mary Moraa of Kenya, 2024 world indoor champion Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia, and 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda to get the win in a world-leading 1:55.78.  She karate-chopped the tape with her right hand in triumph. "I decided to hang back and test my speed at the end," Hodgkinson told reporters.  She added: "But you have to think on your feet, see what's going on around you, and make your decision right there." Moraa finished second in 1:56.71 and another Briton, Jemma Reekie, came from behind to take third in 1:57.45.  American Nia Akins got fourth in 1:57.98. "To feel that good running a 1:57 is new territory for me," said Akins. In the three remaining distance events --the women's 1500m, 3000-meter steeplechase and the 5000m-- there were also excellent performances.  Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji ran a very fast 3:53.75 to win the 1500m over Australia's Jessica Hull.  Hull, who competed for the University of Oregon during her collegiate career, took second in a national record 3:55.97.  Elle St. Pierre, the newly-crowned world indoor 3000m champion, took third in a personal best 3:56.00.  That made her the second-fastest American of all-time. "One of my strengths is my strength," said St. Pierre, who ran a personal best 14:34.12 for 5000m one week ago in Los Angeles.  "I think that 5-K reflected that and gave me more confidence that I could hang on to a faster pace for longer." In a two-woman battle Peruth Chemutai of Uganda beat Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya in the women's steeplechase, 8:55.09 to 8:56.51.  Chemutai's time was a world leader and national record.  Americans Valerie Constien (9:14.29), Courtney Wayment (9:14.48), Gabbi Jennings (9:18.03), and Kaylee Mitchell (9:21.00) all ran under the Olympic qualifying standard of 9:23.00. Finally, in the women's 5000m Tsige Gebreselama and Ejgayehu Taye battled right to the line and Gebreselama got the win, 14:18.76 to 14:18.92. Ethiopian athletes took the top-6 positions.  Back in ninth place, American Weini Kelati got the Olympic standard (14:52.00 or better) by running 14:35.43.  However, she said she was likely to stick with the 10,000m for the USA Olympic Trials next month. "I was really comfortable," said Kelati, who competed for the University of New Mexico during her NCAA career.  She added: "I'm leaning kind of the 10K.  We'll see." *  * Next year's Prefontaine Classic, the only stop of the Wanda Diamond League in the United States, will be the meet's 50th edition.  

(c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission. EUGENE (24-May) -- As Phil Collins famously sang: "We wait and we wonder." That's the mood here less than 24 hours ahead of the Bowerman Mile at Saturday's Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field, the fifth stop of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League.  Tomorrow's race features the world's three top-ranked 1500m runners according to World Athletics: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway (Nike), Yared Nuguse of the United States (On Athletics Club), and Josh Kerr of Great Britain (Brooks Beasts Track Club). Ingebrigtsen is the reigning Olympic and European 1500m champion and is also the event record holder (3:43.73); Nuguse is the reigning USA 1500m champion and the American record holder for the mile (3:43.97); and Kerr is the reigning world 1500m champion and the 2021 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist.  It's a match-up so good that even sprinters are excited about it. "Yah I'm very excited to see this race!" reigning world 100m and 200m champion Noah Lyles posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.  "Idc if it's fast.  I just want to see who will win." That seems to be the opinion of the three protagonists who spoke to the media this afternoon at a press conference.  All three hope to mount the top step of the Olympic 1500m podium in Paris in August, and are looking at tomorrow's race more as a means to that end.  For an Olympic track season, it's still early. "For me, I've never run the Pre Classic or anything," said Kerr, who won the world 3000m indoor title last March in Glasgow.  "So, I wanted to add that to the list of races I wanted to go after that I wanted to win.  It fit in the schedule really well this year, and I'm just excited to open up my mile/1500m debut of the 2024 season." At last year's event --which was held in September and served as the Diamond League Final-- Ingebrigtsen ran just steps ahead of Nuguse, and the pair posted the third and fourth-fastest mile times in history.  But this year's race could be more tactical as all three men have to meter their effort prior to the Paris Olympics.  While Ingebrigtsen burned the last of his end-of-season fitness at last September's race, this year's is more of a rust-buster.  He hasn't raced in 251 days. "Winter's not been perfect which is why I have not been in cross country or indoor," Ingebrigtsen told reporters. "But, I'm definitely going to show up and try to do my best.  I think that's a big part of this sport is to not be only showing up when you are one hundred percent, or whatever.  I think a big part of the sport is to do what we all love, which is to run, compete against each other." Nuguse, who set the world-leading times in the mile this year both indoors and out (3:47.83 and 3:51.06, respectively) is sure that his world lead will be broken, but he didn't seem terribly concerned about putting up a super-fast time like last year.  He said that tomorrow's race will give him a preview of the Paris Olympics and act as a confidence builder ahead of the nerve-wracking USA Olympic Team Trials which will take place here in Eugene next month. "I feel like this race is really important because it's kind of like in a place where I have a lot of my world's best competitors that I'm going to be facing," Nuguse said.  "I feel like once you face them, I feel like that... makes (the Trials) feel a little more manageable, I think.  Being able to come out and race against these guys will give me a lot of confidence going into the Trials." Perhaps lost in the emphasis on the Big Three is the depth of the field.  Fifteen men will be on the track (plus pacemakers) including 2022 World 1500m champion Jake Wightman of Great Britain (a Scotsman, like Kerr), 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500m champion Oliver Hoare of Australia, reigning world indoor 1500m champion Geordie Beamish of New Zealand, and reigning world road mile champion Hobbs Kessler of the United States.  Any one of them could win the race, something that was not lost on Kerr. "You've got to give it up to the Pre Classic for being able to pull this together," said Kerr.  "That's what I'm excited about." * * * Athletes in the Bowerman Mile can also get credit for Olympic Games 1500m qualifying marks based on their mile times.  The Olympic standard for 1500m is 3:33.50, but is 3:50.40 for the mile.  Neither Hoare nor Wightman have the standard yet.  Hoare had hoped to get it last Sunday in Los Angeles, but only ran 3:34.73. PHOTO: Yared Nuguse, Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen at a press conference in advance of the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene Oregon on May 24 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

Running events are more than just races; they're showcases of athleticism, community spirit, and logistical precision. Behind the scenes of every successful marathon, half marathon or 5K are the unsung heroes – the volunteers. From assisting with packet pickup to handing out water at aid stations, volunteers are the lifeblood of these events, ensuring unforgettable experiences for participants and an invaluable assist to operations personnel. To uncover the secrets of effective volunteer coordination in the realm of running events, Running USA’s Leah Etling had the privilege of sitting down with four seasoned experts in the field. Donna Finney, the Director of Volunteer Operations for the New York Road Runners; Samantha Furlong, Manager of the Volunteer Program for Chicago Event Management; Kristin Lide, Senior Manager of Community Engagement and Volunteers for Atlanta Track Club; and Alivia Nelson, Program Director for Grandma’s Marathon, graciously shared their insights and expertise during our hour-long conversation. Recruitment, retention, communication, and coordination emerged as recurring themes throughout our conversation. These pillars form the backbone of any successful volunteer program, and our panelists offered invaluable perspectives on how to strengthen each aspect. Editor’s note: transcript has been edited for clarity. View the full conversation video here. Leah Etling: What are some tested and effective strategies for recruiting and managing volunteers for events like road races? Kristin Lide: We have a plethora of events at Atlanta Track Club. And one of the largest ones is the AJC Peachtree Road Race, which has about 50 to 55,000 participants. We need about 3,000 volunteers for this specific event. One of the things that we like to do, of course, people do it altruistically, but we like to say thank you and give additional incentives. We have special t-shirts and merchandise through our partner adidas. We also partner with several colleges around the Atlanta area. A lot of folks like to come out and serve their hours, whether it's through work, through school, or any extracurricular things that they're doing. A lot of it is just touching base with the community. Figuring out who it is that we're wanting to touch base with and getting them out on race day, getting them all signed up and making sure they're ready to do what we need to do for race day. Donna Finney: At New York Road Runners, our biggest event is the TCS New York City Marathon, and we will have 10,000 volunteers for one week. Our biggest recruitment strategy is opening up marathon registration the day after the marathon. We call it Marathon Monday, and we all have pins that say: “Sign up on November 4.” In other words, we're ready to go. We've been planning for months before even other people even think about the marathon. And it's a really successful strategy for us.Another process that has been really super-efficient for us is our volunteer surveys. Of course we want to make sure that we're getting the feedback from our folks, whether it's good or bad. But we do ask them: Are you excited? Are you looking to get more involved? aFrom that we were able to plug in people that are looking to step up into a leadership position or join one of our community volunteer programs. Those are two of our most successful volunteer recruitment strategies. Alivia Nelson: At Grandma's Marathon, we need about 4,000 volunteers for our event weekend. Duluth is a city of about 85,000. And so just when you talk about percentages and how you're going to find that many people kind of in a smaller area, I always say to cast a pretty wide net. We always look for volunteer groups -- it's always easier to fill those slots with a club or a sports team instead of going one by one. I'm always shocked sometimes about the different groups that are interested in volunteering, so don't assume that a group wouldn't be interested before you even ask. We always also like to use our existing network of volunteers to kind of do some of that outreach. They're probably your best ambassadors, they come back year after year and have a great time and can kind of speak to other people. I always say the best way to get a volunteer is just to ask, and so never count anybody out. Samantha Furlong: I would agree with Alivia in that one of our most effective recruitment strategies is to work with volunteer groups. You can put that responsibility on your group leader to recruit their groups, monitor group registration, and manage expectations with their volunteers while communicating with just that group leader. So that definitely alleviates some of the volunteer recruitment.At the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, we work with about 200 volunteer groups, we work with some groups that are as small as 10 volunteers, and some as large as almost 200 volunteers. And they can come from high schools, college universities, nonprofit organizations, or run clubs. And we do offer a post event donation to groups of 20 or more to help incentivize group registration at our events.How do you ensure that volunteers are adequately trained to handle various tasks, such as course marshaling, aid station support, and packet pickup? Donna Finney: Oh my gosh, I love training. It's a big focus of ours in 2024, actually. Two things that we utilize: last year for the New York City Half Marathon, we were faced with super, super cold weather, and we wanted to over educate people on how to make the best out of their day. And from that we brought out what we call ‘What to Expect on Race Day.’ This is a virtual seminar that is offered to all of the volunteers. We break it down from what to expect in terms of communication, how they've been checked in, and even very detailed orientation regarding their role, then, of course, on the race side, they're going to get that additional training, but it really sets them up for success. And we found that to be a really successful model. Additionally, in our communications, we send out a race day FAQ.We truly believe that an informed volunteer is a happy volunteer. We put together all of the questions or the runners are going to ask, ‘where's the start line?’ to ‘how do I check my bag?’ to ‘how do I find my family and friends?’ All that information is shared with them in email communications as well as provided on site for them. Those are two ways that we've been trying our best to train and educate our volunteers. Alivia Nelson: I think that repetition is really key just because different volunteers want to get their information in different ways. Some really want to read an email ahead of time and find out everything before they get there. And some people maybe don't have the time for that or would like to just learn on site.I think the more you can repeat it, it's really helpful for them. Another thing we're trying to focus on at Grandma's Marathon is training those captains who are maybe helping you in an area and delegating some of those tasks, not just how to manage the water station, but also what some of those best volunteer practices are, just because it's probably overwhelming for them to just like how it's a tricky thing for all of us and making sure those captains know what the best practices are in terms of check in in terms of informing volunteers and giving them breaks to. Samantha Furlong: Here in Chicago, we practice ‘just in time’ training with our volunteers. To be able to successfully do this, we spend a lot of time training our leads in advance of race day so that they are well prepared before their volunteers arrive and ready to learn about their role on race morning. And then we also create an information guide that gets emailed to all of our volunteers in advance of race weekend, encouraging them to review it. It does contain some high-level event information and maps, but the volunteers can still expect to receive that specific ‘just in time’ training when they arrive on event day. And while we do all this, we realize that there's an opportunity for our team to enhance our training materials and find more ways to make our volunteer workforce feel prepared when they show up on race day. Kristin Lide: Donna, I love that saying, that an informed volunteer is a happy volunteer. That is so true.Like every organization on this call, we definitely focus on communication. If volunteers don't know what to do, if they don't know where to go, we are going to be in a kerfuffle. We focus highly, on creating that volunteer information webpage that Samantha was just talking about with connecting with our crew chiefs, which are, you know, our lead volunteers in the area, making sure that they distribute the information that's needed. We have calls with our expo volunteers and will have a specific call for our start and finish course volunteers. It's just communicating as much as possible to inform them about what to expect on that day.Also, everybody knows Atlanta is hot. We try to do as much as we can to keep them cool on our course, or during the wintertime, providing hand warmers, those kinds of things. Leah Etling: Let's discuss some of the measures that each event takes to make sure that there is diversity and inclusive inclusivity among the volunteer teams, that really reflects everybody who's participating in the race, and also the communities where the race is taking place. Samantha, I know that Chicago Event Management works really hard with the neighborhoods along the routes of your events to make sure that there's inclusivity and participation. Why don't you kick us off on this one? Samantha Furlong: We have put a lot of effort into not only looking at our participant database, but also our volunteer database, to make sure that people that are coming to our events are representative of the communities that our events run through. And we've actually done that by adding some additional questions to our volunteer form, which is a really simple way to be able to look at your volunteer data and be able to analyze who your volunteers are, where they are coming from, just by adding an field for your address, asking about race, race and ethnicity, asking for gender identity, and making sure that you have a really diverse volunteer pool for your events, and setting some goals and how to enhance that if you're not quite there. That's been a big focus of ours.At the Shamrock Shuffle, just a couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to work with the Special Olympics as a volunteer group at packet pickup. It was a really great opportunity to get some neurodivergent athletes involved with not just running our events but volunteering for them as well. And we're able to set up some time with them to understand their needs for the event and create a really positive environment for them to come join us in a volunteer role. Kristin Lide: We really try to reach out to a lot of the community. A lot of it is through word of mouth. We have partnerships with Black Men Run, Black Girls Run, Latinas Running and other organizations that can reach into their network and create that diverse pool within the volunteer network itself.We oftentimes find ourselves at different conferences, and sometimes literally just going onto the streets. We will visit areas of Atlanta that might not have heard about any of our races or run clubs and talk to local leaders to pull for both our participant and volunteer base. Donna Finney: Something I love about New York City is it is just such a diverse city. We are very grassroots when it comes to our recruitment of volunteers for the marathon recruiting locally at each fluid station.One thing that we have been doing in the past several months in communications is taking reasonable requests. We're educating ourselves and understanding what our volunteers are needing because they are already here, and also falling in line with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) needs. Someone might let us know that they need a guide or a translation, or it could even be light sensitivity, so they need to be put in the shade. We don't know until they tell us what they need. We're definitely learning in this area, and we're really focused on and doing better. There's a lot of learning moments on how to best support everybody so that they can be out there having just as much fun as the person next to them. Alivia Nelson: A few things Grandma's Marathon is doing is just looking at some of those barriers that exist for different groups, whether it's transportation, or the timing of our events, or how long maybe our volunteer shifts are. Depending on what your job is, it might not allow you to participate, or depending on where you live, it might be a 30-minute drive from your house. We are looking at what we can do to make volunteering more accessible.I think sometimes just taking a step back and saying, is there something that is difficult? It benefits everyone when you look at those barriers, and it diversifies your volunteer base, but it also makes your existing volunteers happier and improves their experience too.

(c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission. (23-Apr) -- Vince Ciattei (Under Armour Dark Sky) and Rachel McArthur (Unattached) won the USATF Road Mile Championships tonight in Des Moines hosted by the Grand Blue Mile.  In windy and cool conditions Ciattei clocked 3:56.97 --leading gun to tape-- and came close to the world road mile record of 3:56.13 set by Hobbs Kessler last October.  McArthur broke away from her rivals in the final quarter to win in 4:32.20.  Both athletes won $5000 in prize money. Ciattei --who finished third in this race last year and was the winner two years ago-- left nothing to chance tonight.  He moved immediately to the front right after the gun, went through halfway in just under 1:58, and was the race's only leader.  He got a credible challenge from John Reniewicki and Alec Basten in the final quarter, but the two Under Armour Baltimore Distance teammates couldn't match Ciattei's speed in the final sprint.  They finished second and third in 3:58.48 and 3:59.88, respectively. "I'm sure in a day I'll be happy that I won," said Ciattei in his post-race broadcast interview as he reflected on coming close to the world record. "That hurts, though, man.  I've been on the wrong side of small margins so often in my career.  I thought today might be the day." Ciattei is coming off of a strong indoor season where he ran three progressively faster mile races in 3:55.94, 3:52.07 and 3:50.56.  He said that his training has been going well and that he had gained the confidence to take the lead early tonight. "I ran, I think, eight seconds slower here last year," Ciattei observed.  "So, big picture, still great progress.  Still really happy with my second U.S. title here.  You know, maybe the time will come another day." McArthur, who finished fourth in the NCAA Indoor Championships mile as a senior at the University of Colorado in 2022, was not the favorite to win tonight.  She stayed tucked in the pack during the first half and let others lead.  When marathoner Annie Frisbie (Puma/Minnesota Distance Elite) took the lead on the course's final turn before the long finish straight, McArthur stayed close behind with Anna Camp Bennett (adidas), Alex Teubel (Unattached), and Micaela  Degenero (Puma).  With about 15 seconds left, McArthur took the lead and was able to hold it to the line. "This is my first road race, first mile on the roads," McArthur said in her post-race broadcast interview.  "The strategy was kind of out the window, to be honest.  I was running with a lot of really talented women, so I thought, 'follow them.'  I was thinking, last 600 meters everyone gets excited because the finish is there, but it's still 600 meters.  I tried to stay calm, but when I felt good I felt good.  I just went." Camp Bennett finished second in 4:33.67, Degenaro got third in 4:34.20, and Teubel captured fourth in 4:35.39.  Frisbie, the marathoner, hung on for eighth in 4:37.59.  Rachel Smith (Hoka), the reigning national 15-K champion, dropped out at half way after leading and was visibly limping. Three-time national road mile champion Emily Lipari (adidas) had hoped to win her fourth title tonight, but was a late scratch.  She still hopes to run the 1500m at the Drake Relays on Saturday. "I tweaked my knee two days ago," she told Race Results Weekly in a text message.  "It's nothing major but needs a little more time." * * Tonight's race was part of the USATF Running Circuit.  The next stop is the USATF 25-K Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich., on May 11. IMAGE: Rachel McArthur after winning the 2024 USATF Road Mile Championships at the Grand Blue Mile (video still via usatf.tv)