USA Track and Field Plans National 12K Race in Alexandria

Alexandria City Council is scheduled to consider a proposed course for the USA Track and Field’s new .US National Road Racing Championships at its legislative meeting on Tuesday night.

The proposed 12K race, produced by Pacers Events, is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Nov. 17. The course will traverse the city’s Old Town, Rosemont, Del Ray and Potomac Greens neighborhoods (See the proposed course in the attached photo).

“I don’t know of any national sports event in the city,” said Kathy Dalby of Pacers Events. “I think this race is a pretty big deal. … Alexandria was named one of the top marathon cities in the country two years ago. There’s a great running community. We’re bringing a national caliber event and the city will get a lot of exposure.”

The competition will mark the end of the season for the USA Running Circuit, which provides a combined $100,000 prize purse for elite men and women runners throughout the year.

The Alexandria race will also be open to non-competitive participants, giving local runners a chance to participate in a national running event. 

When the plans are all fleshed out, the race field will be open to between 4,000 and 5,000 runners, Dalby said. A kids race will also likely coincide with the main event, Dalby said.

As part of the .US National Road Racing Championships, USATF will host “Run with .US!” community outreach program aimed at fighting childhood obesity at an Alexandria school. Other outreach programs are planned. USATF is also partnering on the event with the Alexandria Police Foundation, which will serve as the community outreach liaison and volunteer recruiter for the race.

The new race stems from a new three-year partnership between USATF and Neustar, a domain-name registration company based in Sterling, Va., that manages and operates the .US country code. 

Registration and other race information will be determined and released once the city signs off on the competition, Dalby said.