USA: Kastor Wins USA Women's Half-Marathon Title

Kastor Wins USA Women's Half-Marathon Title By Charlie Mahler, Running USA wire

DULUTH, Minn. - (June 19, 2004) - With all due respect to the Mayo Clinic in the southern part of the state, Duluth is the spot in Minnesota where America's top distance runners come to get well.

U.S. marathon record-holder Deena Kastor of Team Running USA, like Colleen De Reuck last year, used the USA Half-Marathon Championship, held in conjunction with Grandma's Marathon, to get herself back on track after a disappointing spring marathon. Kastor ran a runaway 1:10:30 into a Lake Superior headwind to earn her 16th USA title.

Susannah Beck finished second in 1:15:03, more than four and a half minutes adrift. Cori Mooney was a surprise third in 1:15:17. The top three finishers earned the right to represent the USA at the World Half-Marathon Championships in New Delhi, India this October.

Kastor, the prohibitive favorite at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in St. Louis last April who ended up second there to De Reuck, appears fit for the Olympic Marathon in Athens on August 22. Running alone from the second minute of the race until the finish, Kastor, 31, confirmed the strong form she showed in winning the New York Mini 10K in Central Park last weekend.

Similarly, Trials winner De Reuck, a teammate of Kastor's for Athens, came to Duluth last year after a dramatic collapse in the final miles of 2003 USA Marathon Championship, only to win the race down Lake Superior's scenic north shore in a course and national championship record time of 1:10:00.

Kastor had course and U.S. record aspirations going into today's event, but when the wind made Joan Benoit Samuelson's 1:08:34 unrealistic, the two-time Olympian opted for the big picture approach.

"I was going to try to go out in around 5:15 pace and that would have put me at high-1:07s or low-1:08s," Kastor, whose PR is 1:10:08, said. "When I found the slight headwind, I just kind of wanted to have a strong run. I didn't want to exert myself or overdo and hurt my preparations for the Olympic Games."

Indeed, after running two of the first three miles in the five-teens, the U.S. 10,000 meter record-holder settled into miles in the mid-5:20s - passing 5 miles in 26:51 and 10 miles in 53:47.

"I didn't know where the other runners were," the Arkansas grad admitted. "I guess this race I kind of felt selfish out there. I wasn't trying to be competitive with any other athletes, I was just trying to run really with how I was feeling."

Out of sight of Kastor, Susannah Beck, the fifth place finisher here last year, battled in a small pack with 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials winner Jenny Spangler, Deeja Youngquist and Rachel Kinsman. Beck, who hadn't run as far as 13 miles since the Marathon Trials, broke away from the group in the final miles to claim second.

"I'm not in very good shape, so I had to take advantage of the moments where I actually felt good," Beck, who was ninth at the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials, said. "The place is much higher than I expected. My training has really been erratic and I'm working as a carpenter now, so the last few miles here did kind of feel like a marathon."

Cori Mooney, came from out of a third pack - that included Kim Pawelek and Debbi Kirkpatrick-Morris - to sneak into third place.

"With about three miles to go I wanted to get away from them, so I ran a 5:40 mile or something to try to leave that group I was with," Mooney said. "I was feeling pretty good. I didn't even knowingly try to catch the group in front of me. All of a sudden I looked up and they were coming to me."

Rachel Kinsman was a close fourth in 1:15:20.

Spangler, the U.S. Masters record-holder in the marathon at 2:32:39 and a winner of the 1983 Grandma's Marathon as a 19-year-old in U.S. Junior best time of 2:33:52, was the top master in fifth overall at 1:15:29.

Kastor will return to her altitude home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. with her sights set on the Olympic Marathon. She's looking forward to two of her longest long runs of her marathon preparation - including one clocking three hours and running 25 miles - before competing in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Track and Field Trials in Sacramento on July 16. Kastor will depart for the USA Olympic Team camp on Crete on August 1.

"The thing I'm trying to stay away from is to get to the Olympic Games with too much under me. I'm really trying to stay as fresh as I can and not overdo it in training," Kastor said.

With her win, Kastor closes some of the gap De Reuck has established in the 2004 USA Running Circuit standings. De Reuck, the winner of the 2004 USA 15K and marathon titles and the defending USARC Grand Prix champion, tops the table with 55 points. Kastor stands second with 39 points, while Kirkpatrick-Morris is currently third with 22 points. The next USARC race is the New Haven Savings Bank 20K on September 6.

The 2004 USARC offers over $810,000 in national championship prize money plus a $25,000 grand prix purse. The top 10 U.S. finishers score Circuit points at each event with the final top three point scorers awarded $6000, $4000 and $2500 respectively. More USARC information and current standings available at: www.usatf.org

In Grandma's Marathon, Vladzimir Tsiamchyk of Belarus won the men's division in 2:17:59. Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova of Russia, who narrowly missed the world masters marathon record here last year, defended her title in 2:35:08.

Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon: USA Women's Championship
Duluth, MN, Saturday, June 19, 2004

1) Deena Kastor, CA 1:10:30 $8000*
2) Susannah Beck, ME 1:15:03 $5000*
3) Cori Mooney, ID 1:15:17 $4500*
4) Rachel Kinsman, OH 1:15:20 $3500*
5) Jenny Spangler, 40, IL 1:15:29 $4000#
6) Kim Pawelek, NC 1:15:32 $2500*
7) Debbi Kilpatrick-Morris, 40, OH 1:15:53 $2750#
8) Deeja Youngquist, NM 1:16:25 $1000
9) Turena Johnson Lane, GA 1:16:38 $750
10) Christina Wells, VA 1:16:40 $500
11) Sonja Friend-Uhl, FL 1:16:45
12) Jody Hawkins, TX 1:17:27
13) Jennifer DeRego, CA 1:17:41
14) Casey Smith, VA 1:17:49
15) Jill Boaz, CA 1:17:58
*includes time bonus money
#includes time bonus and masters (40+) prize monies

source Running USA wire