Contact: Tom Surber
Media Information Manager
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0500 x317
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.usatf.org
USATF News & Notes
Volume 3, Number 118 December 11, 2002
USATF Foundation off to fast start
Since its launch last Thursday at the Opening Session of USATF’s 2002 Annual
Meeting in Kansas City, the USA Track & Field Foundation has raised more
than $150,000 through the generosity of 40 different donors.
The purpose of the Foundation is to enhance lives and communities in the
United States through track & field, long distance running and race walking;
and to reach out to the thousands of young people who would like to take
part in the sport but lack the opportunity.
The Foundation will assist dedicated Olympic hopefuls who could realize
their dreams and potential if given the opportunity. It also will aid older
Americans who would find great joy and benefit from participating if exposed
to the very inclusive sport of track & field. The Foundation will assist
people of all ages and all walks of life and ability levels in finding
fitness, enjoyment and accomplishment through track & field.
The leadership of USATF – realizing there was substantial, untapped
potential for track & field to make a lasting and meaningful impact on the
lives of millions of Americans – joined with elite and masters athletes,
track & field enthusiasts and experienced officials to create the USA Track
& Field Foundation. The Foundation will provide a means to attract and guide
funds to new and innovative track & field programs in the following
categories: Youth, Masters, Elite Athletes, Officials, Coaching and Track &
Field Facilities. Donations may be directed toward a specific program.
Contributions to the Foundation are tax deductible and may be sent to the
USATF National Headquarters at One RCA Dome, Suite 140, Indianapolis, IN
46225.
Drossin to run 2003 Flora London Marathon
The Flora London Marathon recently announced its star-studded 2003 field
that includes Team USA California's Deena Drossin, America's most versatile
distance runner.
In 2002, the U.S. Olympian won a silver medal at the World Cross Country
Championships and set the world 5 km road best (14:54 at the Carlsbad 5000)
and the U.S. 10,000 meter record on the track (30:50.32 at Stanford).
Drossin, 29, a Mammoth Lakes, Calif. resident, is excited about the London
Marathon, to be held April 13, 2003. "I have always tried to run where the
greatest competition is so that I may rise to the challenge, and the field
so far for London is one of the best marathon fields I have seen,” she said.
“I have high expectations and know if I run well, I will be pushed by great
distance runners.”
Thus far, the 2003 Flora London Marathon has attracted a stacked men's and
women's field that includes defending champion Khalid Khannouchi, who last
year set a world record of 2:05:38 in an exciting battle with distance
greats Paul Tergat (2:05:48) and Haile Gebrselassie (2:06:35). Tergat also
has committed to London for a rematch against Khannouchi.
For the women, Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain will return to defend her
crown. Last year at London, she set debut and women's-only marathon records
with her time of 2:18:56. Last October at Chicago Radcliffe – Track & Field
News’ 2002 Woman of the Year - ran another stellar performance with a world
record, 2:17:18. The women's field also is headlined by Catherine Ndereba of
Kenya, the former world record holder (2:18:47) and the first woman under
2:19:00 for the distance.
The Flora London Marathon is also the world's largest marathon with 32,899
finishers in 2002.
T&FN names Athletes of the Year
Track & Field News has named Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain and Hicham El
Guerrouj of Morocco as its 2002 Athletes Of The Year in its December
edition.
T&FN's international panel of experts made marathon world record setter
Radcliffe, 28, an almost unanimous choice for No. 1, according her the top
spot on 32 of the 35 ballots. The other votes for No. 1 went to U.S.
sprinter Marion Jones (2) and Mexican 400m star Ana Guevara (1).
Americans finishing in the world top ten in the women’s voting were Jones
(#2), and hurdles star Gail Devers (#6).
American marathon record holder Khalid Khannochi actually received more
first-place
votes in the men’s balloting than El Guerrouj (17-16), but El Guerrouj was
able to defend his men’s crown becoming just the second ever to be named
T&FN’s men’s AOY three times (Carl Lewis did it in 1982–84).
Other Americans in the men’s world top ten were shot putter Adam Nelson (#5)
and 100m world record holder Tim Montgomery (#6), who received one 1st place
vote.
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