New York, May 21, 2019 – This year’s NYRR New York Mini 10K, the world’s original women-only road race, will serve as the USATF 10 km Championships for the first time in the event’s 47-year history on Saturday, June 8 and feature one of the best professional athlete fields ever assembled for the event. The professional open division will include four U.S. 10K champions – Stephanie Bruce (2018), Aliphine Tuliamuk (2017), Emily Sisson (2016), and Deena Kastor (2007) – while the professional wheelchair division will return for the second year with defending champion Susannah Scaroni.

“The Mini is one of road racing’s crown jewels and has been a showcase for many of the world’s greatest runners for decades,” said Chris Weiller, NYRR’s head of professional athletics. “With the national championship on the line for the first time, we’re excited to welcome one of the greatest collections of American women in event history. This year will be special.”

The 2019 USATF 10 km Championships will offer a $75,000 prize purse – the most-ever for a single gender USATF 10 km Championships – including $20,000 for the first-place finisher and will be streamed live on USATF.TV. The women’s 10 km Championships have taken place every year since 1978 and since 2002 have been a part of the USATF Running Circuit, which features championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners.

Sisson, who won the USATF 5 km title in Central Park last year and was the top American woman in April’s London Marathon in her 26.2-mile debut, will be going for her second national title in the distance. In Central Park, she will be challenged by defending USATF 10 km and Half-Marathon champion Bruce, nine-time U.S. champion Tuliamuk, and U.S. champions Jordan Hasay, Sara Hall and Laura Thweatt, along with Kastor, the American marathon record-holder and 2004 NYRR New York Mini 10K champion.

“I’m excited to be lining up for one of the greatest American women’s fields ever assembled at the country’s most historic all-women’s race,” Sisson said. “I’ve had success in winning the USATF 10 km Championships before and will look to repeat that at this year’s NYRR New York Mini 10K, which is a great showcase of how far women’s running has come in our country.”

The event will also feature a professional wheelchair division for the second time, making it the only all-women professional wheelchair race in the world.

“Last year, 46 years after the Mini broke ground as the first women-only race in the world, the race had another breakthrough moment and became the world’s only all-women professional wheelchair race,” Weiller said. “We’re honored to continue that new tradition with some of the sports most talented athletes on hand to blaze the way for the thousands of runners to follow throughout the morning.”

Last year, U.S. Paralympian Susannah Scaroni won the professional wheelchair race in a world-best 10K time of 22:48. She will be returning to defend her title, lining up against five-time New York City Marathon champion and 17-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden and two-time New York City Marathon champion Amanda McGrory.

“As an elite female athlete with a disability, I know I am running on roads paved by the hard determination and integrity of countless women before me,” Scaroni said. “It means the world to be able to honor them and carry their light into the future, demonstrating the life and strength that all women have. Thank you to New York Road Runners for making this awesome opportunity what it is, and enabling us to prove what women can do.”

The 10K race will begin on Central Park West at 61st Street and will finish at 67th Street on West Drive.

The fourth annual Rising New York Road Runners at the NYRR New York Mini 10K, a 1.2-mile race for girls ages 8-18, will kick off race day at 7:15 a.m. The run will start at the same Columbus Circle location as the 10K and will head up Central Park West before entering Central Park and finishing at the 72nd Street Transverse. This year marks 20 years of NYRR’s free youth programming.

From those who led the way 47 years ago, such as race legends Kathrine Switzer and Nina Kuscsik and the event’s inaugural champion Jacqueline (Marsh) Dixon, to the more than 200,000 women who have finished the race since 1972, the NYRR New York Mini 10K has served as one of the most impactful women’s races in running history.  

The event was founded as the world’s original women-only road race in 1972, and was first called the six-mile Crazylegs Mini Marathon. The NYRR New York Mini 10K got its current name when race founder Fred Lebow convinced the sponsor to support a six-mile “mini” marathon—named for the miniskirt, a big fashion trend of the times. Seventy-two women finished that first race, which helped show that women deserved to run in road races as much as their male counterparts. Three weeks later, Title IX was signed into law, guaranteeing women the right to participate in school sports and creating new opportunities for female athletes. The International Olympic Committee added the women’s marathon to the Olympic program for the first time at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, a decision sparked by the growth of women’s road racing, which was led by the success of the Mini.

Here are the full professional athlete fields for the event:

Professional Athlete Field – Open Division

Professional Athlete Field – Wheelchair Division

About New York Road Runners (NYRR)
NYRR’s mission is to help and inspire people through running. Since 1958, New York Road Runners has grown from a local running club to the world’s premier community running organization. NYRR’s commitment to New York City’s five boroughs features races, community events, free youth running initiatives and school programs, the NYRR RUNCENTER featuring the New Balance Run Hub, and training resources that provide hundreds of thousands of people each year, from children to seniors, with the motivation, know-how, and opportunity to Run for Life. NYRR’s premier event, and the largest marathon in the world, is the TCS New York City Marathon. Held annually on the first Sunday in November, the race features 50,000 runners, from the world’s top professional athletes to a vast range of competitive, recreational, and charity runners.  To learn more, visit www.nyrr.org.