GRAND RAPIDS — Betsy Saina returns to defend her title on the women’s side, while Clayton Young looks to capture his fifth USATF Running Circuit men’s title at this year’s USATF 25 km Championships hosted by the Amway River Bank Run on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The USATF 25 km Championships are the sixth stop on the 2024 USATF Running Circuit. Saturday’s racing will begin at 9:19 a.m. ET with the women’s race, followed by the men’s race at 9:30 a.m. ET. Saina made her USATF Running Circuit debut last year at the USATF 25 km Championships, taking home the women’s title in 1:24:32 to beat Keira D’Amato. Saina, a former NCAA champion at Iowa State and Olympian representing Kenya before transferring allegiance, opened her 2024 campaign at the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, running a lifetime best 2:19:17 to place fifth overall. Dakotah Lindwurm returns to the roads after her historic race at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3 in Orlando. The former NCAA Division III standout from Northern State (SD) punched her ticket to the Paris Olympic Games with a third-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon in 2:25:31, joining Fiona O’Keeffe and Emily Sisson. Lindwurm earned fourth place at last year’s USATF 25 km Championships, running a lifetime best 1:25:58. Emily Durgin and Annie Frisbie are among other top-10 finishers from the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon slated to race this Saturday. Both Durgin and Frisbie have also raced in two USATF Running Circuit competitions. Durgin finished second at the USATF 10 Mile Championships and third at the USATF 15 km Championships. Frisbie earned fourth at the 15 km Championships and fifth at the 10 Mile Championships. Allie Kieffer, third at the USATF Half Marathon Championships in 2022, will compete in her second USATF Running Circuit race of the year following a sixth place run at the USATF 15 km Championships. Brittney Feivor and Molly Bookmyer return to the 25 km Championships for the first time since 2022. Bookmyer earned sixth, running 1:28:42, and Feivor was eighth in 1:29:11. The men’s field will crown its first new champion since 2021 with Leonard Korir not returning to complete a third-consecutive title win. U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon runner-up Clayton Young will look to add a fifth USATF Running Circuit title to his resume. Young raced to a second-place finish in Orlando on February 3 in 2:09:06, just behind training partner and former BYU teammate Conner Mantz. Challenging Young will be the top finisher from last year’s 25 km Championships in Jacob Thomson. Thomson ran to a second-place finish in Grand Rapids last year, running 1:14:49 to trail Korir by four seconds at the line. Thomson has raced twice in 2024 with a pair of top-10 finishes at the USATF 15 km (sixth overall) and 10 Mile (ninth) Championships. Adam Walker is another top 10 returner, finishing seventh in last year’s championship field. Past champions of the USATF Running Circuit also make up this year’s competitive field, highlighted by 2024 15 km champion Teshome Mekonen. 2023 20 km champion Daniel Mesfun, 2023 7 Mile champion Biya Simbassa and 2015 Half Marathon and 2014 5 km champion Diego Estrada are among other USATF Running Circuit champions. Nathan Martin will race for the third time in 2024, following a fourth-place finish at the 10 Mile Championships and seventh place finish at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Nico Montanez, who represented the U.S. at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 in the marathon, completes the field of top racers. On-demand race videos, results and post-race interviews will be available shortly after the race in cooperation with Runnerspace.com.
The USATF Running Circuit is a USATF road series featuring USATF championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 to be awarded in total prize money. A total of $42,600 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF 25 km Championships. The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF 10 Mile Championships, scoring is set as 15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, with those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series. The mission of the USATF Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USATF Running Circuit and its races have provided over $7 million to U.S. distance runners. Contributed by Keenan Gray