NEW YORK – In its biggest single-event sponsorship in more than a decade, USA Track & Field on Wednesday announced that it will launch the .US National Road Racing Championships in the fall of 2013. The announcement marks the beginning of a three-year partnership between USATF and Neustar, the administrator of the .US top-level domain, to initiate and grow a national-championship, mass-participation road race.

The 12-kilometer (12 km) event will be a season-capping race to the USA Running Circuit (USARC), a series of races that annually provides nearly $1 million in prize money to American runners. The .US National Road Racing Championships alone will provide a combined $100,000 prize purse for men and women.

The .US domain name is the official country code for the United States. Neustar, an information and analytics company based in Northern Virginia, offers over a decade of experience providing domain name registry services and critical infrastructure services and policy expertise for .US on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce.

“The .US brand is a perfect fit with USA Track & Field,” said USATF CEO Max Siegel. “We have been impressed by the organization’s commitment to our sport and, especially, this race. They are eager to engage all segments of the long-distance running community, from lifestyle runners to our elite athletes. We thank them for their support and for helping us launch this exciting new event.”

“As the administrator of .US, Neustar is proud to support the .US National Road Racing Championships,” said Alex Berry, senior vice president of Enterprise Services at Neustar.  “With this partnership, we envision all national enthusiasts, such as USATF members, running clubs, elite athletes, and the running community having their own .US website.  Runners can track and share their training routines, race times, upcoming races, network and more with .US – America’s top level domain.”

The .US National Road Racing Championships mark USATF’s first wholly owned-and-operated road race and will be overseen by USATF. The race will crown national road racing champions, but will also embrace non-competitive fitness devotees to share in the excitement of a truly national running event.

“Of the 14 million road racing finishers annually in this country, the vast majority are running for something other than prize money or Olympic medals,” Siegel said. “This race is their race, and USATF is their organization. With the support of Neustar, we will be able to reach out to a full cross-section of runners like never before.”

“This is a very exciting day for professional runners and weekend warriors alike,” said Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist in the marathon and a two-time USARC overall standings champion. “Having partners with a broad vision like Neustar is so important for the vast community of runners in the United States, and I look forward to a long legacy of success for this race.”

The .US National Road Racing Championships will include an event website, beginners’ training program, community outreach and a national webcast.

Race date, location and course will be announced in coming weeks. The .US National Road Racing Championships will be the overall road running championship race, and place-finish points will count triple toward USARC standings.

Follow the .US National Road Racing Championships on Twitter: @dotUSchamps and Facebook:www.Facebook.com/DotUSNationalRoadRacingChamps

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.