100 Km Champ Connie Gardner Named USATF Athlete of the Week

October 22, 2002

INDIANAPOLIS – Connie Gardner has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week for her dominating win Saturday in the women’s competition at the USA 100K Championships at the Edmund Fitzgerald 100K in Duluth, Minnesota.

Gardner, 38, of Medina, Ohio, ran eight hours, 30 minutes, 31 seconds for her first-ever national road title - roughly 8:10 pace per mile. Laura Nelson, 37, of Waynesboro, Maryland, was the runner-up in 8:47:49, and Ann Heaslett, 38, of Madison, Wisc., who sought to become ultrarunning's first three-time national champion in a single year, finished third in 8:53:03. The master’s women’s winner was Tania Pacev, the USA's top finisher at the 2002 World Challenge, who finished fourth overall in 9:04:08.

In another top performance last week, Chad Ricklefs, 35, of Boulder, Colo., won his first-ever USA men’s national road title at Duluth in seven hours, nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds - an average of 6:53 per mile. Duluth’s Dusty Olson, 29, was the runner-up in the men's competition in 7:17:02, with Bloomington, Minnesota’s Charles Hubbard, 41, winning the master’s competition with his third-place finish overall in 7:23:29.

Ricklefs’ triumph marked his third major victory in the last 12 months. He also won the JFK 50 Miler last November and set a new course record in winning the Leadville Trail 100 Miler last August.

Now in its second year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on the USATF Web site. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

Contact: Tom Surber
Media Information Manager
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0500 x317
Tom.Surber@usatf.org
http://www.usatf.org

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