INDIANAPOLIS – Olympian Matt Tegenkamp (Portland, Ore.) looks to hold his lead in the standings and win the men’s USARC title at the .US National Road Racing Championships, held November 17 in historic Alexandria, Virginia. A talented field includes four of the top five, and seven of the top eight athletes currently in the USARC standings, promising fast times and close finishes.
The .US National Road Racing Championships are the tenth and final stop on the USA Running Circuit, with the top ten finishers earning triple points towards the USARC overall standings. With the winner picking up a whopping 45 points (36 for second, 30 for third, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3), the standings are sure to look dramatically different afterward.
After dramatic wins at the USA 10 km and USA 20 km Championships, Tegenkamp leads the rest of the USARC pack with 60 points. His slight eight-point lead over second place Shadrack Biwott (Eugene, Ore.) gives the Portland-based standout little room for error, but he should be feeling confident after a top ten marathon debut in October at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
Biwott, who finished runner-up to Tegenkamp at the USA 20 km Championships, continues to prove his worth over the roads, having placed third at the USA Marathon Championships last month, while finished third at the USA 10 km and USA Half Marathon Championships this season, as well.
Third place (50 points) in the USARC standings, Josphat Boit (Fayetteville, Ark.) should contend for a top-five finish in Alexandria. He hasn’t finished as strong in the shorter USARC races as Tegenkamp and Biwott, but his runner-up finishes at the USA Marathon Championships and USA 25 km Championships shows he can handle himself well against tough competition.
Two athletes not currently in the USARC top ten, but should challenge for top three finishes are Aaron Braun (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and Chris Solinsky (Madison, Wisc.). Braun, who finished second at the USA 5 km Championships in September and was USARC co-champion in 2012, enters the 12 km race having finished third at the NYRR Dash to the Finish 5k. Meanwhile, Solinsky looks to stick with teammate Tegenkamp early on with hope of having a breakthrough race.
USA 10 km Championship runner-up Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.) seeks the win after giving Tegenkamp a run for his money at both the 10 km and USA 20 km Championships. The three-time Olympian continues to rank among the best in the country and the 12 km distance should play into his skill set well.
2013 USA Marathon champion Nick Arciniaga (Flagstaff, Ariz.), current fifth place (32 points) runner Timothy Ritchie (Brighton, Mass.) and 2012 USARC co-champion Christopher Landry (Ann Arbor, Mich.) all ran strong in their fall competition and each have a shot for a top five finish. Ritchie earned four top six finishes already this season, while Landry current sits eighth place (25 points) after a fifth place performance at the USA Marathon Championships.
A handful of other athletes should challenge for top five finishes. Road race veteran Craig Curley (Tucson, Ariz.), USA 5 km Championship fifth place finisher Joe Stilin (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and Team USA cross country member Bobby Mack (Raleigh, N.C.) have strong 2013 racing seasons to their names, while Elliot Krause (Appleton, Wisc.) and Jacob Riley (Rochester, Mich.) look to continue making waves on the roads.
Live Coverage
Live text updates of the .US National Road Racing Championships will be available at www.USARunningCircuit.com beginning at 7:15 a.m. ET. Video of the race, post-race interviews and photos will be available shortly after the race on USATF.tv. Join the conversation on Twitter with the hash tag #dotUSchamps.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org.
About .US
.US is the country code domain name for the United States of America. .US is managed and operated by Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR), an information services company, on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce. Neustar operates the .US global registry in the public interest and provides critical infrastructure services. Visit www.about.us for more information on .US, and visit www.neustar.biz for more information on Neustar.
About the USARC
The USARC is a USA Track & Field road series featuring USA championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 to be awarded in total prize money. A total of $100,000 in prize money will be awarded at the .US National Road Racing Championships.
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 those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series.
The mission of the USARC is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USARC and its races have provided over $7 million to U.S. distance runners.
Contributed by Scott Bush
