One of the most eagerly awaited pre-holiday rituals for runners throughout the Washington, DC Metropolitan area and around the country is the opening of online registration for the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run and 5K Run Walk. This year online registration will begin on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 8:00 am sharp on the event's Web site. The race will be held on Sunday, April 6, 2008.

There will be more opportunities than ever before to gain entry to the Washington area's only World Class running event with the expansion of the field to 12,000 participants. However, Event Director Phil Stewart still believes that the online registration period may not extend much past the 25 hours it took to fill the event last year, when a record number of 10,700 runners finished. Stewart also commented, "I think the traditional second week in December opening of online registration may give prospective participants just a little reminder to show some restraint from overindulging in holiday culinary delights."

The 2008 event will feature a spectacular new 10-mile course with the start and finish on 15th Street adjacent to the Washington Monument grounds. The revised route will be awash with more cherry trees than ever before, including a 3-mile circuit under a canopy of the legendary trees in East Potomac Park (Hains Point), in addition to the traditional sections past the trees along the Tidal Basin, Independence Avebue, and the always popular Memorial Bridge crossing.

The 5k Run Walk is designed primarily for runners and walkers who plan on moving at a more leisurely pace than the 14-minute- per-mile pace that is required of all 10 milers.

The new Washington Monument grounds staging area is readily accessible by Metro, with the start-finish line less than a quarter mile from the Smithsonian stop (Orange and Blue lines). Metro will open at 5:00 a.m. on race day, an hour earlier than in the past, in order to allow more time for entrants to take Metro to the event. The 10 mile will start at 7:50 a.m.

The event will feature its traditional cast of elite athletes from around the world competing for the event's largest prize purse ever--$35,500 in prize money and bonuses. The top male and female athletes will earn checks for $6,000 each. An advance start for elite women has resulted in a women's world record being set at the event each of the last two years. Last spring Ethiopian Teyba Erkesso lowered the mark to 51:44. The event will once again pay for drug testing of the elite athletes as part of its commitment to free the sport of drug cheats. The testing will be conducted by the United States Anti- Doping Agency (USADA). For the second year in a row, the event serves as the Road Runners Club of America's National 10 Mile Championship.

The sponsoring Credit Union Miracle Day, Inc. has set a goal of raising more than $1 million dollars for the Children's Miracle Network through donations and fundraising on the part of the runners and individual sponsoring Credit Unions and partners. About a third of these funds support Washington, DC's own Children's National Medical Center ("Children's Hospital").

The event takes place on the second weekend of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, a two-week celebration of sporting and cultural events that commemorates the blossoming of the fabled trees donated to this country by Japan in the early 20th century.

The event is part of the Professional Road Running Organization Circuit. In addition to title sponsorship from Credit Union Miracle Day, Inc. and its affiliated Credit Unions and Partners, the event enjoys supporting sponsorship from Gatorade, Navy Federal Credit Union, Saucony, and Metro Run & Walk.

Last year's Race Report