Press release from ATRA partner Collegiate Running Association (CRA).
April 15, 2015 – Indianapolis, IN – The Collegiate Running Association is proud to announce their first National Championship event in Trail Running, set for 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.
“We are thrilled to announce our first Trail Running Championship”, said Collegiate Running Association Co-Founder Jon Molz. “One of the goals of the CRA is to create opportunities for college students that do not currently exist. We are ardent supporters of Trail Running, as is evident by our recent partnership with the American Trail Running Association, and prior to this race there really have not been any opportunities for college students to race the trails in a collegiate championship setting.”
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 city of Indianapolis has been on our radar as a potential host city for one of our events since we created the CRA” said Collegiate Running Association Founder Steve Taylor. “The city is full of passionate supporters of healthy lifestyles as is demonstrated by the creation of events like this; the infrastructure is there; and there are abundant amounts of cities and college towns within a 250-mile radius that we hope will be drawn to this event.”
The Indiana Urban Wilderness Run will be part of a busy weekend of running events in the Indianapolis area. The Indiana Invaders will host a pair of events as part of their American Milers Club High Performance Series, which attract some of the nation’s elite middle-distance and distance runners on Friday, June 12 and Sunday, June 14. With an influx of runners headed to the Indianapolis metro area already, the Indiana Urban Wilderness Run will seek to provide an opportunity for spectators to race a high-quality event between the two High Performance Series events.
“Founding this annual event with our community partners is a perfect, historic launch of our new initiative to engage elite athlete development into our unique sport role as gatekeepers of valued urban green space” said Coach Greg Harger, Director of the Indiana Invaders. Coach Harger added, “Our ongoing development efforts, in partnership with Indianapolis Parks and the White River State Park, will yield far more than the two cross country courses and the soft surface trail that connects them. Introducing trail running and cross country running as a recreational sport option while maintaining a year-round outdoor classroom and improving significant aspects of our city’s livability is an honor”.
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About the Collegiate Running Association The Collegiate Running Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded November, 2013 with a mission to promote healthy lifestyles among college students by providing and expanding opportunities in the sport of running. Our vision is to offer national championship events in road racing, mountain running, and trail running with prize money specifically reserved for college students that will be open to all college students enrolled in at least one class.
In 2014 the CRA held two national championship events: a 10k Road Race held within the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond, VA, and a Mountain Race held in conjunction with the USATF Mountain Running Championships in Lincoln, New Hampshire. Combined, these events saw nearly 3,700 college students representing 150 colleges and universities compete. In 2015, The CRA will host four national championship events open to all college students, including two road races, a trail race, and a mountain race. To learn more, visit the CRA National Championships page.
For more information contact: Steve Taylor/Jon Molz Co-Founders, Collegiate Running Association (804) 749-8679 or e-mail [email protected]
