Since 1996, the Road Runners Club of America has awarded stipends through its Roads Scholar program to assist American post-collegiate, road runners who show great promise to develop into national and world-class road running athletes. The RRCA is now accepting applications for our 2006-2007 Roads Scholar Class. The application can be found on at Roads Scholar Class. The deadline for applying is March 31, 2006.

Over the last ten years, the Roads Scholar program has distributed over $160,000 to emerging American distance runners. Grants in the amount of $5,000.00 per year have been awarded to four to six athletes annually since the program's inception. The driving factor in the creation of this program was the goal of improving the state of long distance running in the United States. A sign of the program's success were the results of the 2004 Summer Olympics where Deena Kastor, a 1997 Roads Scholar grant recipient, captured the bronze medal in the woman's Olympic marathon. Kastor became the first American in 11 years to win a major marathon after placing first at the 2005 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Kastor also serves on the Roads Scholar selection committee.

The program is directed towards runners who:
*Are US citizens
*Have graduated from college (or whose class has graduated)
*Plan to race in top open road race events (not just track, cross country or US-only events)
*Expect to earn less than $30,000 from all sources during the calendar year

If you would like to make a contribution to the Roads Scholar program, send a check payable to the RRCA and mail c/o Jeff Darman, 110 East State Street, Suite 15, Kennett Square, PA 19348. If you prefer to contribute on-line, please use the following link to make your contribution http://www.signmeup.com/52614.

In addition to individual donors, the program has received generous financial support over the years from the Credit Union Cherry Blossom, the Atlanta Track Club Lilac Bloomsday Association, Team FootWorks, Huntsville Track Club, the Cotton Row Run, Knoxville Track Club, and Houston Masters Sports Association.