6 March 2008

CONTACTS: (Please do not publish these numbers or emails. Race information is available on the web at www.cherryblossom.org, by email at info@cherryblossom.org, or on the race hotline, 301-320-3350)

Phil Stewart
Event Director
301-320-6865
pstewart@cherryblossom.org

Frank McNally
Media Coordinator
703-801-2566 (cell); 703 572-4040 (d); 540-338-5648 (e)

Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Celebrates 36th Running with International Field and $35,500 in Prize and Bonus Money

WASHINGTON – Elite athletes from around the world including contingents from Kenya, Ethiopia and Japan are making plans to attend the 36th running of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in Washington, DC on Sunday, April 6. They will be racing after a total purse of $35,500 in prize money and bonuses. The first place male and female finishers will earn $6,000 each in the Washington, DC area’s only major international prize money event. Showing its commitment to keeping the sport drug free, the event funds drug testing of the elite athletes under the auspices of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Behind these elite athletes will come 12,000 additional starters on a new course that starts and finishes on the Washington Monument Grounds and passes by more of the fabled Japanese cherry trees than ever before. Participants will be among the first to mourn the passing of “The Awakening Statute” at the tip of Hains Point, but the organizers have planned something to help ease the pain.

The sponsoring Credit Unions have set an ambitious goal of raising $1 million dollars for the Children’s Miracle Network, a national consortium of 170 children’s hospitals across the U.S. Funds raised by Credit Unions in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area go to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Funds raised from outside the Metropolitan area go to CMN affiliates in the home states of the participating Credit Unions.

Entries to the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run® closed out in December. With the expected large number of runners and spectators, Metro will begin its Sunday operations two hours early -- at 5 a.m. on race day. The Smithsonian Metro stop (Orange and Blue lines) is conveniently located only ¼ mile from the start and finish lines.

The spectator-friendly course includes a circuit of Hains Point (East Potomac Park), stretches of Independence Ave., West Potomac Park, Memorial Bridge and an out-and-back stretch on Rock Creek Parkway to just past the Kennedy Center. The entire course is within 2.2 miles of the start-finish line, making it a particularly spectator friendly layout. In addition to the 10-mile, there will be a 5k Run Walk (also closed) and a 1k Kids Run. Spectators are invited to see all the action starting with the elite women’s start at 7:40 a.m. and the 10-mile mass wave start at 7:50 a.m.

The event is part of the Professional Road Running Organization Circuit and the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual two-week, citywide event celebrating spring. The 2008 Festival is March 29 – April 13, and will feature daily cultural performances, sporting events, arts & crafts, demonstrations and other special events. The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the 96th anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossom trees and the enduring friendship between the citizens of the United States and Japan.

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