Collegiate Running Association Quarter Marathon Trail Championships are Saturday, June 13
Race will be held as part of the inaugural Indiana Urban Wilderness Run
June 10, 2015 - Indianapolis, IN - The Collegiate Running Association’s first National Championship event in Trail Running is taking place this Saturday, June 13, 2015, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Quarter Marathon (10.55K) Championships will be held as part of the inaugural Indiana Urban Wilderness Run, and will be open to both the general public and college students. The race will award a $6,000 prize purse to the top five male and female college students.
Top entries on the men’s side for the inaugural Trail Championships include three of the top four finishers from the CRA 10k Road Race Championships held in March, including Joe Gray (Colorado Springs, CO),
Benjamin Snodgrass (Binghamton, NY), and Will Christian (Norfolk, VA). One of the
most versatile distance runners in the US, Gray has won 9 National Championships
and been a force on the roads, mountains, and trails for the last decade. Gray is
undoubtedly one of the top trail runners in the country and has represented Team
USA 17 times in his career.
Pictured above: Bethan Sachtleben and Joe Gray; two of the top entrants for the CRA Trail Champs
Leading the entries on the women’s side is Bethany Sachtleben (Manassas, VA), a recent graduate and Cross Country and Track & Field standout for George Mason University. While at GMU, Sachtleben won numerous Atlantic-10 Championships and qualified for the first round of the NCAA Championships on the Track in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Challenging Sachtleben will be likely be Samantha Jo Bluske (Toledo, OH), an assistant Cross Country and Track & Field coach at Toledo, where she is also pursuing a graduate degree. Bluske has seen success from the mile to the marathon in recent years, and sports personal bests of 16:19 for 5k and 34:16 for 10k.
“We are very excited about our elite field for our first-ever Trail Championships” said CRA co-founder Jon Molz. “On the men’s side, we have three former CRA prize money winners making long trips to our race which we truly appreciate, and on the women’s side we have a few first-time CRA participants that we are thrilled will join us. These are great men and women that have a dedication to both running and education, and those are two things the CRA is passionate about.”
In addition to bringing in an elite field, a top priority of the CRA is to push their mission of promoting healthy lifestyles through running. The championship, which is held as part of the Indiana Urban Wilderness Run, will take place in downtown Indianapolis alongside the White River on a mixture of single track dirt trails, grass, and limestone path. The course will utilize urban park space that is being developed as part of an initiative to get more residents out and about in a natural setting. The hope is that this inaugural Indianapolis event will attract first-time trail runners and continue to grow for years to come.
“We are passionate about our mission statement of promoting healthy lifestyles through the sport of running” said CRA co-founder Steve Taylor. “While we love the elite side of the race, we also care very much about providing new and unique fitness opportunities to the community as a whole with our events. We believe Indianapolis has the infrastructure and resources to be a vibrant running community with some outstanding places to run right in the downtown area. Hopefully this event will be a stepping stone for residents of Indianapolis to start exploring the trails that are readily available for them.”
The CRA Quarter Marathon Trail Championships are slated to begin at 9:00am on Saturday, July 12. For more information or to register, visit the race website: Indiana Urban Wilderness Run.
