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 Ryan Hall Dominates USA Men's Half Marathon Championships Samia Akbar of Herndon, VA is Tenth in Women's Championship Race From USATF Photos by www.photorun.net January 15, 2007 Houston, TX For the Washington Running Report Photo above: Samia Akbar (25) of Herndon, VA ran 1:14:48
Cool, cloudy but humid conditions met the competitors in the
first race of the 2007 USA Running Circuit (USARC) as Hall took
charge from the start, leading Olympic Silver medalist Meb
Keflezighi (San Diego, CA), Dan Browne (Portland, OR),
and Fasil Bizuneh (Bristol, VA), through the first mile in
4:38. From there, Hall had no reservations about going for the 21
year old half-marathon record. By three miles he had opened a
15 second lead over Keflezighi, Browne and Bizuneh. Reaching 10
km in 28:22, Hall had a 57 second advantage over his nearest
rivals which would eventually grow to 1:43 by 15 km, as he
passed in 42:22 to unofficially tie the U.S. mark for the
distance. Continuing to cruise through splits of 45:33 for 10 miles and
57:06 for 20 km, Hall, the current record holder for the latter
distance, was unofficially faster than the U.S. marks for both
distances. Hall's time bettered the old record, held by Mark Curp by one
minute, 12 seconds and was also a North American record and
currently makes him the 13th fastest performer in the world at
the half marathon distance.
The women's race saw Dryer and her 2004 U.S. Olympic teammate,
O' Neill move to the front early to establish themselves as the
main contenders for the U.S. championship. Dryer was largely in
control of the race, maintaining a lead of nearly five seconds
through much of the first 10 km. As the pair approached eight miles, O' Neill made a move to
match strides with Dryer and even take a few steps in the lead
before Dryer retook her place in the lead and continued on to
her first U.S. half-marathon title, winning by four seconds in
her debut at the distance. Michelle Lilienthal (Philadelphia, PA) ran a personal best of
1:12:46 to finish third, while Alvina Begay (Gando, AZ), and
Tara Storage (Beaver Creek, OH), rounded out the top five in
1:12:57 and 1:13:14 respectively. The championships featured a total prize purse of $59,500 with
$12,000 going to the respective men's and women's champions.
Hall also earned bonuses of $4,000 for breaking the existing
race record of 1:02:07, plus an additional $5,000 for breaking
the American record of 1:00:55. Two of the top five U.S. male and female finishers will also be
eligible to represent the U.S. at the IAAF World Road Running
Championships to be held in Udine, Italy, October 14, 2007. About the USARC The USA Running Circuit (USARC), a USA Track & Field road
series, features USA Championships from 5 km to the marathon
and attracts the best U.S. distance runners, including
Olympians Deena Kastor, Meb Keflezighi, Marla Runyan and
Anthony Famiglietti. The thirteenth edition for the men and
twelfth for the women, the 2007 USARC has nine events for men
and seven events for women. The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USARC race (15
for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and
1), with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6,000, $4,000, and
$2,500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall.
The USARC points at the USA Marathon Championships will be
doubled. The mission of the USA Running Circuit is to showcase, support,
and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the
USARC and its races have provided over $4 million dollars to
U.S. distance runners. For more information on the 2007 USA Half-Marathon
Championships see www.usatf.org.
Top 15 Male & Female Finishers in USA Half Marathon Championships
Name City Age Clock Pace 1 RYAN HALL MAMMOTH LAKES, CA 24 0:59:43 3:12 2 FASIL BIZUNEH BRISTOL, TN 26 1:02:20 3:20 3 MEBRAHTOM KEFLEZIGHI SAN DIEGO, CA 31 1:02:22 3:20 4 ANDREW CARLSON MINNEAPOLIS, MN 24 1:02:44 3:21 5 JASON LEHMKUHLE MINNEAPOLIS, MN 29 1:02:51 3:22 6 BRIAN SELL ROCHESTER HILLS, MI28 1:03:10 3:23 7 JOSEPH DRISCOLL LENOIR, NC 27 1:03:27 3:24 8 DANIEL BROWNE BEAVERTON OR 31 1:03:55 3:25 9 TRAVIS LAIRD ROCHESTER HILLS MI 25 1:03:57 3:25 10 JUSTIN YOUNG SUPERIOR CO 27 1:03:58 3:25 11 CHAD JOHNSON ROCHESTER HILLS MI 30 1:04:01 3:25 12 NICHOLAS STANKO HASLETT MI 25 1:04:02 3:26 13 LUKE HUMPHREY ROCHESTER MI 25 1:04:05 3:26 14 MIKE MORGAN ROCHESTER HILLS MI 26 1:04:05 3:26 15 RYAN SHAY EAST JORDAN MI 27 1:04:23 3:27
Noteworthy Performance
See the Chevron Houston Marathon Web site
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