INDIANAPOLIS - 2008 Olympians Dathan Ritzenhein (Portland, Ore.) and Amy Yoder Begley (Portland, Ore.) will lead a strong U.S. contingent at the 18th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships Sunday, in Birmingham, UK.
The men's team will also include recent USA 20 km champion Brett Gotcher (Flagstaff, Ariz.). Ritzenhein and Gotcher will team with Andrew Carlson (Flagstaff, Ariz.); Scott Bauhs (Chico, Calif.), and James Carney (Boulder, Colo.).
Joining on the women's team withBegley will be Serena Burla (Baldwin, Mo.), Amy Hastings (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Elva Dryer (Gunnison, Colo.), and Heidi Westerling (Acworth, N.H.), who replaces Desiree Davila (Rochester Hills, Mich.).
The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships will air on Universalsports.com on Sunday at 4:00 a.m. ET. A total of 47 IAAF Member Federations are set to compete this coming weekend, the highest number since 2004.
A total of $245,000 will be offered in prize money, with $30,000 going to the individual champions and $15,000 to the respective men's and women's team champions. The top finish for a U.S. team at this event came last year in Rio de Janeiro where the Team USA women finished fourth. The best team finish for a U.S. men's team was sixth in both 2005 and 2006.
For more information on Team USA at the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, visit USATF.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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