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(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. NEW YORK (07-Sep) — Disappointed to have missed a spot on Team USATF for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Yared Nuguse found a different way to end his season on a high note, winning a thrilling New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile road race in Manhattan. Gracie Morris was the surprise winner of the women’s division, using a well-timed kick to secure victory. The races were held in light rain, capping a day of mass participation, age-group and specialty heats featuring more than 8,500 participants at the New York Road Runners-organized event. MORRIS NAILS HER TIMING The women’s elite race went off first, and defending champion Karissa Schweizer, who ran 4:14.8 to equal the event record last year, immediately went to the front down the 20-block straight-line, downhill course. A two-time Olympian in the 5000 and 10,000 meters, she knew she would need to rely on her strength up against a field of established middle-distance runners. She admitted that her enthusiasm, combined with the course’s initial downhill slope, may have caused her to push the pace a bit too hard. Leading Morris by 10 meters, Schweizer earned the race’s $1,000 halfway leader bonus. Morris, fifth in this event last year, continued to track Schweizer while remaining several steps ahead of a pack that included Dani Jones, Gabbbi Jennings, Eleanor Fulton and Kayley DeLay. Shortly after the three-quarter mile mark Morris began to close the gap on Schweizer, who still looked strong but was beginning to strain. With about 300 meters to go Morris decisively surged into the lead. She remained unchallenged to the finish and won comfortably in 4:15.5. “I knew I needed to stay patient and that I could get her,” said Morris, who joined the Puma Elite Running Team in North Carolina a year ago after graduating from Texas Christian University. “And right around 1200 I knew that’s a key point in this race, so I just started pressing.” Morris finished 9th in the 1500 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships in early August and then won the Sir Walter Miler (track mile) a week later, smashing her track personal best with a 4:23.74 clocking. “This is one the best seasons I have had, just confidence wise and having consistency. I don’t feel like I’ve had a bad race,” she said. “I really wanted to win this one and use this momentum to go into next year.” Behind her, Kayley DeLay broke free from the pack and tracked down Schweizer, edging ahead for second place just before the finish, 4:17.4 to 4:17.6. Fulton (4:18.9) and Laurie Barton (4:20.6) rounded out the top five. “I’m happy with this,” said Schweizer, who finished a disappointing sixth in both the 5000 and 10,000 at the U.S. championships. “It’s been a weird year. I feel like this race and my 5K in Brussels [where she clocked a season’s best 14:39.30] showed that I’m not as far off as I thought.” NUGUSE'S PRIDE HELPED CARRY HIM TO THE WIN The men’s race played out quite differently, with a huge pack running together in the early going. No significant moves were made until Flavien Szot bolted to the front just in time to earn the halfway leader bonus. (He would eventually finish 12th.) The pack quickly caught the Frenchman. Nuguse --who opened his season in New York City in February with his third straight victory in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games-- was at the center of the road, with his expected chief rivals, Josh Hoey and Hobbs Kessler, to his right, while Luke Houser and Amon Kemboi were on his left. Hoey, the runner-up here in 2024 and this year’s world indoor champion in the 800 meters, nudged briefly ahead, but could not gain any separation. With a quarter mile to go, Parker Wolfe swung wide on the right and edged into the lead, appearing poised for an upset. But a cluster of men remained on his heels and just steps before the line Nuguse found one more gear and broke the tape in 3:47.7, becoming the first American man to win this race since Eric Jenkins in 2016. “I feel like a lot this year I haven’t really had the kick I wanted, and I think with that downhill energy and also this being my very last race, I really just wanted to leave it all out there,” said Nuguse, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1500 last summer in Paris. “When Parker passed me that just ignited something within in to really leave it all out there.” Wolfe (3:48.1) held off Drew Hunter (3:48.1) for second, followed by Ireland’s Nick Griggs (3:48.4) and Kenyan Festus Lagat (3:48.4). Kessler (3:49.6) came home 10th and Hoey (3:51.9) finished 13th. The win gave Nuguse a nice boost after his season took a shocking turn at the U.S. championships, where he was relegated to fifth place in the 1500. The On Athletics Club star’s bid to earn a wild card into the World Championships by winning the Diamond League Final in Zurich on August 28 fizzled out when he finished seventh, leaving him off of the national team for Tokyo. “After what happened in Zurich I was a little bummed that that was the end of my season, but Fifth Avenue only asked me [to run here] after that race,” he said. “I liked the idea of racing a fun race. I wanted to win, but I wanted to have an enjoyable [experience] and I heard that Fifth Avenue has really fun vibes.” Wolfe also found redemption with his performance. An injury cut short his senior season at the University of North Carolina this spring, but he rallied to place 6th in the 5000 at the USATF Championships on minimal training. “I thought I had it until the last 10 meters,” he said of his bold move today. “I started tying up a little bit. I’m very happy to feel that gear be there. It’s been a while since I’ve really had that. I felt like myself racing again, so that was awesome.” Morris and Nuguse both recorded the third fastest times in event history and pocketed $5,000 in prize money for their victories. PHOTO: Gracie Morris and Yared Nuguse celebrating their 2025 New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile victories (photo by John Nepolitan for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. NEW HAVEN (01-Sep) -- On a cool and cloudy morning here, reigning USA Olympic Trials Marathon champion Conner Mantz showed that his training for October's Bank of America Chicago Marathon is right on track, breaking his own national 20K record at the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race by seven seconds.  Mantz, 28, went through 10K in 27:50, then came back in the hilly second half of the race in 28:26 to run 56:16.  His mark set a new USATF 20K Championships record and also broke Khalid Khannouchi's 27 year-old event record of 57:37. "I think this was the exact type of race I needed in preparation for Chicago," Mantz told a small group of reporters after the race.  "A win always is helpful, but the biggest thing was a really hard effort.  You can push in workouts, and push a lot.  But today, this was really, really tough." Mantz, who won here in 2022 and finished second in 2023, also had to fight a pitched battle for the win today against Isai Rodriguez and Hillary Bor.  The trio were part of a six-man lead pack which zipped through the first mile in 4:23, and the second in 4:33.  They were joined by Shadrack Kipchirchir, Casey Clinger and Zouhair Talbi.  Clinger and Kipchirchir fell back in the fourth mile, and Talbi had to let go in the fifth mile when the first three split 22:25. "They were moving so quick," Mantz said of Rodriguez and Bor.  "At halfway I think we were at 27:50, or something like that.  It was quick.  At that point I was like... if I run about 4:45 pace the rest of the way I'll get the course record.  But these guys didn't slow down.  They kept pushing." Bor, the race's defending champion, tried to use his energy wisely.  He was content to let Rodriguez and Mantz switch-off at the front. "If there is someone there to push the pace, then I'll just sit at the back," Bor told Race Results Weekly.  "When Rodriguez took the pace, I said 'this is perfect.'" Rodriguez, the 2023 Pan Am Games 10,000m champion, did most of the leading.  In what was his first race of the year, he wanted to keep the pace high and give himself a chance at the podium.  He led through 10 miles in 45:31 --a time which was only 16 seconds slower than the American record-- and stayed with Mantz and Bor until the final push to the finish line along Temple Street in Downtown New Haven.  It was there that Mantz and Bor started to pull away. "Conner and Hillary started pushing," Rodriguez recounted.  "I was just trying to stay relaxed a bit.  I guess I wasn't there quite yet." Rodriguez fell back and finished third in 56:34, a time which is equivalent to a 59:54 half-marathon according to the time-tested Riegel Formula.  Bor was right on Mantz's heels, but only for a few strides.  Mantz hit the gas, dropped Bor, and ran to the finish line alone.  Bor finished second in a huge personal best of 56:32, despite slowing a bit in the final meters to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd.  Talbi held on to fourth place, running most of the race alone, in 57:39, and Clinger was fifth in 58:05. "I pushed and pushed and I looked back and Hillary was gone," said Mantz of the final kilometer.  "I knew at that point I could win.  I told myself just keep that sub-4:20 (per mile pace).  I got the American record, which was a surprise." Galen Rupp, who like Mantz is training for the Chicago Marathon, finished 19th in 1:00:22. The women's race saw a first-time winner who, like Mantz, is coached by Ed Eyestone of Brigham Young University.  Aubrey Frentheway, who finished second at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth back in June in 2:27:14, broke away from her rivals in the middle of the tenth mile and went on to win in 1:05:36.  It was her first national title. "Honestly, it's like my first big pro win and I'm kind of emotional," Frentheway told Race Results Weekly.  "It was good.  Before the race I had no idea how I'd feel.  I've been dealing with a hamstring issue for, like, two months.  I was kind of nervous and I felt like at mile-nine for some reason I felt good, so I'm going to go." Biruktayit Degefa, a three-time Chevron Houston Marathon champion, took second in her first race as an American citizen.  The Ethiopian-born runner threw up immediately after finishing, but after a moment to collect herself she was clearly pleased with her time of 1:05:42.  She said that she was injured most of the last two years. "The race was tough, very tough," Degefa said.  "But after, finally, second place I am happy." Ednah Kurgat, the 2023 USATF Cross Country Championships winner, took third in 1:05:46 followed by 2:27 marathoner Maggie Montoya (1:05:57).  Reigning USATF Cross Country champion Carrie Ellwood finished fifth in (1:06:08). Both Mantz and Frentheway won $9000 in prize money, and Mantz picked up an additional $1000 for setting an event record.  Overall, the race paid out a $38,000 prize money purse. The Faxon Law New Haven 20K is part of the USATF Running Circuit.  Only one event remains on the circuit for this year, the national marathon championships to be hosted by the California International Marathon in Sacramento, Calif., on December 7.  The overall circuit champions will receive $15,000 in addition to the prize money they earned at individual races. PHOTO: Conner Mantz winning the men's division of the 2025 Faxon Law New Haven Road Race in an American record 56:16 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. NEW YORK (19-Aug) - She's had to wait five years, but USA marathon record holder Emily Sisson will finally get her chance to run the TCS New York City Marathon this November.  Sisson, 33, a two-time Olympian who has won eight national titles, was supposed to run what would have been the 50th edition of the world's largest marathon in 2020, but the race was cancelled due to the pandemic.  She had to settle for running the race "virtually" on the Silver Strand Bikeway in Coronado, Calif., accompanied by her husband, Shane Quinn, on a bicycle (she ran 2:38:32). "Enjoyed pushing myself and looking forward to the next opportunities," Sisson wrote on her Instagram at the time. "Here's to making the best out of 2020!" Sisson is part of a strong elite field for the 2025 race, which will take place on Sunday, November 2.  The competition will also feature marathon debuts by track Olympians Joe Klecker and Hillary Bor of the USA, previous women's champions Sharon Lokedi and Hellen Obiri of Kenya, and title defenses by Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya and Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands.  But for Sisson, the race should be particularly special given that she is both America's fastest-ever marathon woman and that her kit sponsor, New Balance, has a deep and long-running relationship with both the TCS New York City Marathon and the race founders and organizers, New York Road Runners. "I am so excited to be lining up in New York!" Sisson told Race Results Weekly in an e-mail.  "New York City really is my favorite place to race because the energy is always incredible. NYRR also does an amazing job, always, and I can't wait to be back in November." Sisson's road running career actually began in earnest eight years ago in New York.  On a near-freezing day in March of 2017, Sisson and then-training partner Molly Huddle ran the United Airlines NYC Half.  The pair, who had come from a warm-weather training camp in Arizona, ran together the entire way and Huddle just edged Sisson by two seconds, 1:08:19 to 1:08:21.  Sisson's time was a USA half-marathon debut record.  She began to see that the marathon would be her future. "It's pretty special," Sisson told Race Results Weekly that day.  "I didn't even know what [the record] was coming into today, but I'm pretty happy, especially to do it here, a tough course." Sisson wouldn't step up to the marathon until April of 2019 when she ran the TCS London Marathon.  She was very fit coming into the race, running a 1:07:30 half-marathon in Houston in January and then a world-leading and personal best 30:49.57 for 10,000m at Stanford University at the end of March.  On paper, the London race went great (Sisson set a USA debut and national record of 2:23:08), but she had actually fallen during her warm-up and banged her knee on the pavement.  That injury would later lead her to withdraw from the 2021 edition of the TCS New York City Marathon. "A few weeks before Tokyo (Olympics), my knee started to hurt pretty badly," Sisson said through Instagram in October, 2021.  She continued: "I took a week off after Tokyo (where she ran the 10,000m, placing tenth) hoping to heal. Not for a lack of trying, I haven't really been able to train for 2.5 months now. So after a great year of training and racing, I'm prioritizing health and giving my body the rest it needs! New York Road Runners, I will be back racing soon." The following year, Sisson would choose Chicago for her fall marathon instead of New York.  In May, 2022 she set a national record for the half-marathon of 1:07:11 (since broken), then crushed it in Chicago with a second place finish and North American record of 2:18:29.  Sticking with the race plan coach Ray Treacy had given her, Sisson split halfway in 1:09:26 then came back in a slightly faster 1:09:03.  The three previous North American record holders --Keira D'Amato, Deena Kastor, and Joan Samuelson-- were on hand to see her finish. "It's amazing," Sisson said in her post-race broadcast interview.  "The women standing here today, they've all accomplished so much.  To be amongst them is an incredible honor." Although Sisson lowered her national half-marathon record to 1:06:52 in January, 2023, that did not translate into a faster time at Chicago later that year (2:22:09).  She had struggled to overcome a side stitch in the final third of the race. "I felt actually pretty good until mile 18 in the race," said Sisson.  "I was proud to gut it out the last 8 miles." As a practical matter, Sisson couldn't run New York in 2023 because the race was too close in the calendar to the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon in early February of 2024 (running Chicago gave her adequate recovery time).  That turned out to be a good move as Sisson had a great day at the Trials, finishing second in 2:22:42 and securing her Paris Olympic Marathon starting spot (she would finish 22nd in 2:29:53 on a hot day).  There would be no fall marathon for her in 2024, typical for an athlete who runs a summer marathon at a major championships. Sisson's life has changed a lot since 2020.  Her husband, who is Irish, is an Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy accredited mental health counselor and therapist, and has set up a practice in Tramore, County Waterford.  Sisson has been spending a lot of time in Ireland this year and has jumped into a few local races to help her stay sharp (she ran a road PB of 14:58 for 5-K at the Streets of Kilkenny 5K, for instance).  She skipped the Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships this summer in Eugene, and plans to run the AJ Bell Great North Run half-marathon on September 7 in England as part of her build-up. "I feel really motivated for this one as I have had my eyes on it for so long," Sisson said of the NYC Marathon. "Now I finally get to race it!" The full elite field is at this link, along with the official press release: https://www.nyrr.org/media-center/press-release/2025_0819_tcsnycmproathletefield PHOTO: Emily Sisson finishing second at the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Orlando, Florida, on February 3 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. (14-Aug) -- Kenya's John Korir, who is the reigning champion of both the Boston and Chicago Marathons, is headed back to Chicago on October 13th with the hope of retaining the title he won so audaciously last year.  Korir, 28, blasted the second half in Chicago last year in a sizzling 60:25, clocking a personal best 2:02:44, the second-fastest winning time ever at the event.  He is now the eighth-fastest man in history. "I was excited," Korir told reporters after last year's race.  "I knew I was in 2:02 shape."  He added: "I knew I wanted to close the season in a PB and I did it." For 2025 Korir will have to overcome a powerful elite field assembled by executive race director Carey Pinkowski.  Five men with personal best times of 2:04:01 or better will challenge Korir, Pinkowski said today, including the rising Ugandan star Jacob Kiplimo who ran an excellent debut of 2:03:37 at last April's TCS London Marathon.  Korir is not fazed. "I am confident that I will be able to defend my title at the 2025 Bank of America Chicago Marathon this October," said Korir through a media release.  "My training is going well, and I am focused on achieving another personal best time." Korir, who last month won the Utica Boilermaker 15-K and clinched the 2024/2025 Professional Road Running Organization title, used the same strategy to win Boston.  In Chicago he ran 4:37 for the 20th mile and 14:01 from 30 to 35 km.  In Boston, he ran 4:39 for the uphill 20th mile to put the race away. "We did the same like Chicago," Korir told reporters.  "We repeated it for Boston." Kenya's Timothy Kiplagat, second at last year's Tokyo Marathon, is the second-fastest man in the field with a personal best of 2:02:55. Fellow Kenyans Amos Kipruto (2:03:13), who was third in Chicago last year, and Cybrian Kotut (2:03:22), who took third in Boston, will look to replace Korir atop the podium, as will two-time Olympic marathon medalist Bashir Abdi (2:03:36) of Belgium.  Also in the field is the Kenyan veteran Geoffrey Kamworor, twice the TCS New York City Marathon champion. Conner Mantz will lead the home-country charge.  After running 2:05:08 at the Boston Marathon last April, Mantz is gearing up to break Khalid Khannouchi's 23 year-old national record of 2:05:38.  Veteran Galen Rupp, 39, will return to Chicago for the first time since 2023 when he finished eighth.  He won the race in 2017 and is the last American to win in Chicago. On the women's side reigning race champion Ruth Chepngetich --who ran a ratified world record 2:09:56-- will not return to defend her title (she has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for a possible doping violation).  That leaves the door open for five African women --four Ethiopians and one Kenyan-- who have run sub-2:20 during their careers.  The fastest is Megertu Alemu, who finished fourth at the 2024 TCS London Marathon in a personal best 2:16:34 and ran nearly as fast (2:16:49) at the Valencia Marathon last December where she was the race champion.  She was also third in Chicago in 2023 in 2:17:09. "I look forward to returning to the Chicago Marathon to try and improve on my previous performance there," said Alemu through a statement. "The course is very flat and fast; and with my good training this year; I feel that I am fit to run better this time in Chicago and move higher up on the podium. I look forward to the race and the energy that the city gives you." The other top women are Ethiopians Hawi Feysa (2:17:00 personal best), Bedatu Hirpa (2:18:27), and Haven Hailu Desse (2:19:17), and Kenyan Irine Cheptai (2:17:51). The top Americans are Lindsay Flanagan (2:23:31 PB), Natosha Rogers (2:23:51), Gabi Rooker (2:24:29), and Olympian Dakotah Popehn (2:24:40).  Popehn, who finished 11th at the Paris Olympic Marathon, ran her personal best in Chicago in 2023. "I'm coming back with one goal: run even faster," said Popehn, who will run for the American Cancer Society. "There's no place like Chicago for chasing speed: the crowd, the course, the energy—it's built for breakthroughs." The reigning champions of the men's and women's wheelchair divisions, Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug, will return to defend their Bank of America Chicago Marathon titles. Debrunner will look to make it a three-peat after winning in 2023 and 2024, while Hug will chase his fourth consecutive and sixth overall Chicago victory. "Last year's victory at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in a huge course record meant a lot to me," said Debrunner, who pushed to a finish time of 1:36:12 last year. The full elite field is below: Professional Men - John Korir, KEN, 2:02:44 (Chicago, 2024) Timothy Kiplagat, KEN, 2:02:55 (Tokyo, 2024) Amos Kipruto, KEN, 2:03:13 (Tokyo, 2023) CyBrian Kotut, KEN, 2:03:22 (Berlin, 2024) Bashir Abdi, BEL, 2:03:36 (Rotterdam, 2021) Jacob Kiplimo, UGA, 2:03:37 (London, 2025) Philemon Kiplimo, KEN, 2:04:01 (Hamburg, 2025) Geoffrey Kamworor, KEN, 2:04:23 (London, 2023) Huseydin Mohamed Esa, ETH, 2:04:39 (Chicago, 2024) Conner Mantz, USA, 2:05:08 (Boston, 2025) Daniel Ebenyo, KEN, 2:06:04 (Chicago, 2024) Galen Rupp, USA, 2:06:07 (Prague, 2018) Hiroto Inoue, JPN, 2:06:14 (Tokyo, 2025) Zouhair Talbi, MAR, 2:06:39 (Houston, 2024) Matt Richtman, USA, 2:07:56 (Los Angeles, 2025) Ryan Ford, USA, 2:08:00 (Boston, 2025) Rory Linkletter, CAN, 2:08:01 (Seville, 2024) C.J. Albertson, USA, 2:08:17 (Chicago, 2024) Hideyuki Tanaka, JPN, 2:09:27 (Tokyo, 2025) Patricio Castillo, MEX, 2:10:40 (Seville, 2023) Marc Scott, GBR, 2:11:19 (London, 2024) Colin Mickow, USA, 2:11:22 (Chandler, 2020) Kevin Salvano, USA, 2:11:26 (Chicago, 2023) Nick Hauger, USA, 2:11:55 (Sacramento, 2024) Robert Miranda, USA, 2:12:07 (Sacramento, 2024) Afewerki Zeru, USA, 2:18:54 (Porto, 2023) Casey Clinger, USA, Debut Tai Dinger, USA, Debut Professional Women: Megertu Alemu, ETH, 2:16:34 (London, 2024) Hawi Feysa, ETH, 2:17:00 (Tokyo, 2025) Irine Cheptai, KEN, 2:17:51 (Chicago, 2024) Bedatu Hirpa, ETH, 2:18:27 (Dubai, 2025) Haven Hailu Desse, ETH, 2:19:17 (London, 2025) Mary Ngugi-Cooper, KEN, 2:20:22 (London, 2022) Calli Hauger-Thackery, GBR, 2:21:24 (Berlin, 2024) Lindsay Flanagan, USA, 2:23:31 (Chicago, 2024) Natosha Rogers, USA, 2:23:51 (Nagoya, 2025) Florencia Borelli, ARG, 2:24:18 (Seville, 2024) Gabi Rooker, USA, 2:24:29 (Chicago, 2024) Dakotah Popehn, USA, 2:24:40 (Chicago, 2023) Melody Julien, FRA, 2:25:01 (Valencia, 2023) Philippa Bowden, GBR, 2:25:47 (Berlin, 2024) Aubrey Frentheway, USA, 2:27:14 (Duluth, 2025) Maggie Montoya, USA, 2:27:50 (Rotterdam, 2025) Loice Chemnung, KEN, Debut Ejgayehu Taye, ETH, Debut Emily Venters, USA, Debut Professional Wheelchair Men:  Marcel Hug, SUI, 1:17:47 (Oita, 2021) World Record Aaron Pike, USA, 1:20:02 (Duluth, 2022) Johnboy Smith, GBR, 1:20:05 (Duluth, 2022) Hiroki Nishida, JPN, 1:20:28 (Boston, 2017) Daniel Romanchuk, USA, 1:21:36 (Boston, 2019) Rafael Botello Jimenez, ESP, 1:22:09 (Boston, 2017) Jetze Plat, NED, 1:24:28 (Dubai, 2023) Simon Lawson, GBR, 1:25:06 (Boston, 2017) Brian Siemann, USA, 1:26:46 (Boston, 2017) Geert Schipper, NED, 1:26:51 (London, 2025) Evan Correll, USA, 1:27:19 (Duluth, 2022) Jason Robinson, USA, 1:29:01 (Duluth, 2022) Rob Smith, GBR, 1:55:51 (Dubai, 2017) Ethan Burkhart, USA, 2:00:53 (Duluth, 2019)  Professional Wheelchair Women:  Susannah Scaroni, USA, 1:27:31 (Duluth, 2022) Manuela Schär, SUI, 1:28:17 (Boston, 2017) Tatyana McFadden, USA, 1:31:30 (Duluth, 2019) Catherine Debrunner, SUI, 1:34:16 (Berlin, 2023) World Record Eden Rainbow-Cooper, GBR, 1:35:11 (Boston, 2024) Vanessa De Souza, BRA, 1:40:21 (Seville, 2020) Jade Hall, GBR, 1:41:44 (Boston, 2017) Hoda Elshorbagy, EGY, 1:58:38 (Chicago, 2023) Hannah Dederick, USA, 2:02:23 (Chicago, 2022) Rachel Cleaver, USA, 2:46:48 (Chicago, 2024) PHOTO: John Korir celebrating after winning the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. (13-Aug) -- Elite milers and marathoners alike will flock to Cape Cod this weekend for the Falmouth Track Festival on Friday and the ASICS Falmouth Road Race on Sunday.  The Track Festival will be held for the 29th time and features elite miles for men and women, while the 7-mile road race will celebrate its 53rd* edition.  The road race was founded in 1973 and boasts a beautiful coastal course from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights.  The 2024 edition had 11,166 finishers making it one of the largest races in New England. Track Festival could produce fast miles The Track Festival will be held at Falmouth High School, and many athletes have put up fast times on the James T. Kalperis Track.  The meet records are 3:52.97 for the men (Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Canada in 2021), and 4:23.11 for the women (Dorcas Ewoi of Kenya in 2024).  Both those records are under threat this year, and the race winners will receive $5,000 in prize money plus the chance for additional time bonuses. Leading the men's field is Sam Prakel (adidas), the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships bronze medalist in the mile.  The 30 year-old, who finished ninth in the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China last March, set a 1500m personal best of 3:33.93 last month and has a career-best mile time of 3:50.94. Prakel should get a strong challenge from Kenya's Amon Kemboi (Puma Elite Running) who set PB's in both the 1500m (3:33.49) and mile (3:53.57) this year.  Additionally, Kemboi just ran a personal best 12:58.51 for 5000m in Oordegem, Belgium, three days ago. Other top entrants include Dylan Jacobs (On Athletics Club), who was fifth in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in the 3000m, but has yet to run a fast mile; Luke Houser (Atlanta Track Club Elite), the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m bronze medalist; Australia's Jack Anstey (Under Armour/Dark Sky Distance) who has a mile PB of 3:51.51; and Morgan Beadlescomb (adidas), who ran a personal best 3:34.20 for 1500m last month and has a mile PB of 3:52.03.  Both Jacobs and Beadlescomb plan to double back for the road race on Sunday. Olympians Courtney Frerichs and Allie Wilson, both of the Nike Swoosh Track Club, are the leading names for the women's elite mile.  Frerichs, 32, won the silver medal in the steeplechase at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and Wilson, 29, made it to the repechage round of the 800m at the 2024 Paris Olympics.  Frerichs has a mile PB of 4:35.01 (4:07.39 for 1500m), while Wilson has run 4:26.04. Also hoping to be in the mix for the win will be Angel Piccirillo (Puma Elite Running), who just ran a mile PB of 4:25.13 at Sir Walter Miler last Friday in Raleigh; Eleanor Fulton (ASICS), who has a mile PB of 4:23.65; and Annika Reiss (Under Armour/Dark Sky Distance), who was most recently fifth in the Guardian Mile on the road in Cleveland. Road race welcomes back legend and past champions Two of the best entrants for Sunday's road race, Edna Kiplagat (Puma) and Vivian Cheruiyot (Puma), are both running well past 40 years-old.  Kiplagat, 45, was twice the World Athletics Championships gold medalist in the marathon (2011 and 2013), while Cheruiyot, 41, has won six world titles and has four Olympic medals.  Kiplagat has run Falmouth seven times, and has made the podium five times.  She won the race in 2021. "I always look forward to returning to Falmouth," said Kiplagat, through a statement provided by race organizers. "The course and conditions are tough, with a good field... but I love racing like this." Cheruiyot, who has seemingly done it all, has never run at Falmouth.  However, she is a gifted road runner with a road 10-K best of 30:47.  She ran 31:35 in Manchester in the U.K. back in May and was fifth at the TCS London Marathon in April. Other key women in the race are Great Britain's Jessica Warner-Judd (Hoka One One), eighth in the 2023 World Athletics Championships 10,000m; Susanna Sullivan (Brooks), who is preparing for the 2025 World Athletics Championships Marathon; Emma Grace Hurley (ASICS), who finished second at the USATF Half-Marathon Championships last March; Natosha Rogers (Puma), who ran a personal best 2:23:51 for the marathon in Nagoya last March; and Ethiopia's Melknat Wudu (adidas), who finished second at Falmouth last year. On the men's side Kenya's Wesley Kiptoo (Hoka Northern Arizona Elite) looks like the man to beat.  Kiptoo, 29, won in Falmouth in 2023 and tied Gilbert Okari's course record set back in 2004.  Kiptoo has run well this year, including two sub-61:00 half-marathons and a win at the Gate River Run 15-K in Jacksonville last March. "I cannot wait to return to Falmouth in pursuit of my second victory," said the Flagstaff-based Kiptoo, through a press release.  "I also cannot wait to see the organizers, host family, and all of the volunteers and spectators who make me want to come back to Falmouth every year." Two other Flagstaff residents, Eritrea's Yemane Haileselassie (adidas/McKirdy Trained), and Biya Simbassa (ASICS) would also like to win in Falmouth.  Haileselassie, 27, the 2024 Honolulu Marathon champion, finished fourth at Falmouth last year.  Simbassa, 32, is a two-time USATF 10K road running champion and is the fourth-fastest marathoner in USA history. There is a lot of depth in the men's field, including Kenya's Patrick Kiprop (Unattached), the reigning AJC Peachtree Road Race Champion; Ahmed Muhumed (Hoka NAZ Elite), who has a 10,000m PB of 27:03.19; Zach Panning (Hansons-Brooks), who finished fourth at the 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon; Zouhair Talbi (ASICS), the 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon champion; and Kenya's Alex Masai (Hoka NAZ Elite), who ran a 2:08:03 personal best at the NN Rotterdam Marathon last April. "Legends are made in Falmouth and legends return to Falmouth," said Scott Ghelfi, president of Falmouth Road Race, Inc. through a statement.  "It's good to see some familiar faces coming back this year, but equally as exciting to see what first-time Falmouth runners might contend for the win." The Falmouth Road Race, a World Athletics Label Road Race, has a generous prize money purse featuring a first prize of $10,000 ($7500 for second and $6000) for third.  The top three USA finishers will receive $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, and can "double dip" with open prize money. ____________ *The 2020 edition was virtual PHOTO: The elite women's start of the 2024 Falmouth Road Race (LOC photo)