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Seattle Open Cross Country Classic Sponsors
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(20 January 2002) Seattle Open Cross Country Classic race director Paul Merca announced that Bellevue’s Mindy Leffler, representing Club Northwest, will return to defend her Seattle Open title this Saturday (26 January) at Seattle's Lincoln Park, starting at 11:00 AM.
The Seattle Open Cross Country Classic, presented by NIKE, with assistance from the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, Talking Rain, SoBe Beverages, the Pacific Northwest Association of USA Track & Field, and Active.com, is one of the final high performance cross country races in the country designed to help prepare runners for the USA Cross Country Championships in Vancouver Washington on February 9-10 and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in March.
Leffler, a Georgetown University and Issaquah High School grad, hopes to win her fourth straight women's 4-kilometer title against a solid group of middle distance specialists from the region.
For the first time in the Seattle Open’s four year history, there will be a new women’s 6-kilometer champion, as three-time defending champion and 2000 Canadian Olympian Tina Connelly from Pt. Coquitlam, BC is taking a sabbatical from competition this season.
Emilie Mondor of Montreal, who is attending school at British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University, and who finished second in the Canadian national cross country championships, is the Seattle Open’s leading female 6-k entrant. Mondor ran 9:18.23 for 3000 meters to win the Husky Indoor Preview meet in Seattle on January 12th. Many coaches and observers of the Canadian distance running program feel that Mondor is one of their country’s rising stars.
Merca anticipates that the two men’s events, a four-kilometer, and a ten-kilometer race, will be wide-open contests, with several of the Northwest’s top harriers expected to run in preparation for the USA national championships two weeks later in Vancouver, Washington.
In conjunction with the men’s 10-k and women’s 6-k races is an international team challenge competition between teams representing American states and Canadian provinces. The first four finishers from each state or province will score for their team, while the first six displace per International Association of Athletics Federations rules. There is no team scoring in the short cross country race. The British Columbia squads won both the men’s and women’s team competitions at last year’s Seattle Open.
The men's and women's 4-kilometer races kick off the program at 11 am, followed by the men's 10-k and women's 6-k races, which start simultaneously at 11:45 am. All races are on a spectator-friendly 2-kilometer loop course, which starts and finishes adjacent to the soccer field on the north end of Lincoln Park.
Runners who wish to enter the Seattle Open may sign up for the races beginning at 9:30 am in front of picnic shelter #5 for a $15 entry fee.
For more information on the Seattle Open, please contact Merca at 206/499-4329, or visit Club Ballard's web site at www.clubballard.com.
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NOTES: Complete race results from the Seattle Open will be posted on the Club Ballard web site at www.clubballard.com no later than 6 PM on Saturday evening, barring any technical difficulties. Media wishing to receive results before 6 PM are asked to contact Merca at 206/499-4329.
CLUB BALLARD TO HOST SEATTLE OPEN CROSS COUNTRY CLASSIC ON JANUARY 26TH AT LINCOLN PARK
(21 December 2001) Club Ballard Athletics announced that the Seattle-based track and field club will stage the Seattle Open Cross Country Classic on Saturday, January 26th, 2002 at Lincoln Park in Seattle.
Race director and Club Ballard team manager Paul Merca states that the meet will offer many of the athletes from the Pacific Northwest a final competitive opportunity before the USA Winter Cross Country Championships in Vancouver, Washington on February 9-10th.
"As USA Track & Field has moved the national championships to mid-February from its traditional late November/early December window in order to conform with the international calendar, the competitive opportunites for athletes wishing to run cross country races domestically after December is very limited."
"Club Ballard is happy to provide the distance runners of this area a chance to see where they are before the national championships, and we're delighted to stage this meet", Merca said. "We anticipate the participation of many of the Pacific Northwest's elite distance runners in both the short-cross (4K) and the long races, including several runners who have competed at the international level of the sport."
"The women's 6-kilometer race was clearly the highlight of the 2001 Seattle Open, as the top four finishers (Tina Connelly, Lisa Nye, Robyn Meagher, and Leah Pells) all competed at the World Cross Country Championships in Oostende, Belgium after participating in our race."
The meet will consist of a men's and women's 4-kilometer race and community run at 11:00 AM; a women's 6-kilometer race; and a men's 10-kilometer competition, both of which starts at 11:45 AM.
All races will be contested over a European-style 2-kilometer loop course going through the north and central portions of Lincoln Park. This course was originally designed for the 1999 USA Women's World Cross Country Team Trials.
The men's 10K and the women's 6K races also features an international team challenge competition between teams representing American states and Canadian provinces. The first four finishers from each state or province will score for their team, while the first six displace per International Association of Athletics Federations rules. There is no team scoring in the short cross country race.
Winners of the 2001 edition of the Seattle Open were Tina Connelly of Port Coquitlam, BC in the women's 6k (20:30); Ian Solof of Portland in the men's 10k (30:25); Geoff Perry of Seattle in the men's 4k (13:05); and, Mindy Leffler of Bellevue in the women's 4k (15:06). The British Columbia squads swept both the men's and women's team titles.
Individual and team awards will be presented to the top finishers in each of the four races on the schedule.
Entry forms for the race are available at several Seattle-area sports stores, including Super Jock 'n Jill in Green Lake; Foot Zone on Capitol Hill and in Issaquah; and NIKE TOWN in Downtown Seattle.
Interested participants may send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Club Ballard, Box 70601, Seattle, WA., 98107-0601. An entry form is now posted at the team's web site, which is:
The entry fee for the event is $10.00, before January 22nd. There will be day-of-race registration; however, the entry fee on race day is $20.00.
Runners may also enter the Seattle Open through its online partner, Active.com.
Telephone inquiries for the race may be directed to Paul Merca at 206/499-4329. You may also send email inquiries to clubalrd@accessone.com, or visit the club's web site at http://www.clubballard.com.
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