Bobby Mack wins US 8k Title
(Raleigh, N.C.) used a late surge to take the USA Men’s 8K Championship Saturday in Carmel. Mack ran 23 minutes, 5 seconds to win his first USA title at the national championships hosted by the inaugural Carmel Marathon Championship Weekend.
After passing the first mile in 4:27, a group of about 15 men settled in behind pre-race favorites Aaron Braun (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and Josh Moen (Minneapolis, Minn.) with Mack, James Carney (Boulder, Colo.), Patrick Smyth (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Jason Hartmann (Boulder, Colo.) and Nick Arciniaga (Flagstaff, Ariz.) close by.
Shortly after passing four miles in 18:30, the pace began to heat up and Braun was the first to make a serious move to the front, opening a two-stride gap on the field with about a half-mile to go. Mack, 26, was the only one to respond and quickly overtook Braun before going on to a six-second win. Braun took his second USA Championship runner-up finish this season, running 23:11.
Carney finished one second behind Braun to take third, while Christo Landry (Ann Arbor, Mich.) took fourth in 23:16 and Hartmann rounded out the top-five in 23:19.
The USA Men’s 8K Championship were also the sixth stop on the 2011 USA Running Circuit (USARC) and featured $20,000 in prize money with the Mack earning $5000 as national champion. The 2011 USARC, a USA Track & Field road series, features USA Championships from one mile to the marathon and for the first time will include the USA Cross Country Championships. The USARC attracts the best U.S. distance runners and has ten events for men and nine for women. Braun now leads the men’s circuit with 34 points.
USA Men’s 8K Championship – Carmel, IN, Saturday, June 11, 2011
1) Bobby Mack (NC), 23:05, $5000
2) Aaron Braun (AZ), 23:11, $4000
3) James Carney (CO), 23:12, $3000
4) Christo Landry (MI), 23:16, $2000
5) Jason Hartmann (CO), 23:19, $1000
6) Josh Moen (MN), 23:21, $900
7) Patrick Smyth (CA), 23:28, $800
8) Lex Williams (NH), 23:30, $700
9) Scott Smith (AZ), 23:48, $600
10) Patrick Rizzo (CO), 23:51, $500
11) Yosef Ghebray (IN), 23:55, $400
12) Jordan Horn (AZ), 23:57, $300
13) Paul Hefferon (MI), 23:59, $200
14) Jesse Cherry (NC), 24:11, $150
15) Jeremy Johnson (NM), 24:47, $100
