On-line entries for the 34th Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run closed on Tuesday, December 13th at 11:30 a.m. The on- line process lasted just 25 hours. The limit for mail-in entries was reached on Friday, December 16th. Even with the recent expansion of the field to 10,000 runners, the April 2, 2006 event, which starts and finishes in West Potomac Park in Washington, DC and is known as the "Runner's Rite of Spring" by area runners, reached capacity in the shortest time ever.

Juri Valdov, chairman of the Credit Union Miracle Day, Inc., announced that through the support of the sponsoring Credit Unions and the race participants, he hopes the event will raise $500,000 for the Children's Miracle Network. This would bring the total amount of funds raised since Credit Union Miracle Day took over title sponsorship of the event in 2002 to over $1.5 million dollars to help sick children.

The event continues as the largest springtime participatory running event for runners of all abilities and the only established World Class elite competition in the Washington Metropolitan area. Isabella Ochichi and Catherine Ndereba, who placed 1st and 2nd in the 2004 event, went on to win silver medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics. The 2006 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile will offer $31,500 in prize money, its largest purse ever, with $6,000 going to the first place male and the first place female.

Both the men and women's world records were set in the 1995 event and the women's world record was set in 1998. The event has attracted Olympic Gold Medalists, World Champions and world- record holders. "This is a truly outstanding opportunity to run in the same event with, or to come out and watch, world-class athletes running on the streets of Washington, D.C.," said Event Director Phil Stewart. The event also supports American distance running by underwriting two $5,000 grants for up-and-coming U.S. stars through the RRCA Roads Scholar program.

The event is part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Professional Road Running Organization Circuit.

Complete details are available at www.cherryblossom.org.