INDIANAPOLIS - The USA Track & Field Foundation, running event organizations and generous fans have come together again to make possible a significant investment in USA distance running in 2009.
Thanks to support from the following sponsors, grants totaling $282,000 will be directed to the development of elite and "up and coming" American distance runners via the USA Distance Project:
New York Road Runners - Presenting Sponsor
Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. - Major Sponsor
Houston Marathon Foundation, Inc. - Major Sponsor
MarathonGuide.com - Major Sponsor
Individual Donors
Following a rigorous evaluation process, the following seven comprehensive post-collegiate training groups will receive grants in 2009:
Mammoth Track Club, Mammoth Lakes, CA
Marathon Performance Group, Eugene, OR
McMillan Elite, Flagstaff, AZ
Team Indiana Elite, Bloomington, IN
Team USA Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Tempo Sports, Boulder, CO
ZAP Fitness, Blowing Rock, NC
These group distance centers collectively qualified 60 athletes for last year's USA Olympic Team Trials.
"There is universal agreement that group training centers like these have fueled the surge in USA distance running performance," said Jack Wickens, USATF Foundation Board member. "The USATF Foundation considers it critical that we continue to support them, so our country's top young distance runners can pursue their dreams and inspire America's youth."
The Distance Project will also award grants to individual athletes later in the year.
For more information, or to contribute to the Distance Project, please visit the USA Track & Field Foundation website at USATFFoundation.org.
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 #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 USATF.org.
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