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Organizers of the DICK'S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10-K announced yesterday that they would cease to run the professional athletes on a separate criterium course used since 1998, and had beefed up their athlete compensation package with generous time bonuses.
Dubbed the International Team Challenge when it was debuted in 1998 and introduced team scoring as a major component of the race, the BolderBOULDER ran separate single gender races for the professional men and women on a criterium course after the conclusion of the massive citizens race which remained on the event's traditional point-to-point course. For the 2008 edition of the race, scheduled for Memorial Day, May 26, the pros will be back on the traditional course with the masses competing for a $110,600 prize purse based on international team scoring PLUS the new time bonuses.
"Now instead of running fast enough to beat the next runner, athletes will be fighting for every second they can gain on the course," said pro athlete recruiter Don Janicki through a media release. "There has been a lot of speculation on how much faster the BolderBOULDER course is compared to the criterium course. Some think it is only 15 seconds faster while others think it can be up to 90 seconds depending on the weather."
Boulder sits at 5430 feet (1656m), and running fast there is extremely difficult. Indeed, athletes go to Boulder for their base-building periods in training and typically run more slowly. Nonetheless, Kenyan Josephat Machuka ran 27:52 and compatriot Delillah Asiago ran 32:13 there, the course records, both set in 1995. In addition to the new time bonuses, organizers will pay an additional $1000 for each second those records are broken.
The time bonuses, listed below, are available to all athletes competing in the race, not just the race winners:
MEN -
Sub 28:00 $5,000
Sub 28:15 $2,000
Sub 28:30 $1,750
Sub 28:45 $1,500
Sub 29:00 $1,250
Sub 29:15 $1,000
Sub 29:30 $ 750
Sub 29:45 $ 500
Sub 30:00 $ 250
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WOMEN -
Sub 32:15 $5,000
Sub 32:30 $1,750
Sub 32:45 $1,500
Sub 33:00 $1,250
Sub 33:15 $1,000
Sub 33:30 $ 750
Sub 33:45 $ 500
Sub 34:00 $ 250
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