Annie Rodenfels defended her USATF 5 km title and Ahmed Muhumed won his second USATF title of the year as the 2024 USATF Running Circuit season came to a close on Saturday at the USATF 5 km Championships in New York City.
The USATF 5 km Championships, hosted by the Abbott to the Dash, were the 11th and final stop on the 2024 USATF Running Circuit. Race highlights and coverage of the event are available and can be viewed with +PLUS subscription on USATF.TV.
Rodenfels held off Emily Venters to win the women’s title in 15:20 and Muhumed surged away from the men’s field to cross the finish line first in 13:38. From start to finish, Rodenfels was challenged by not only Venters, but Emma Grace Hurley, too, setting up a national title effort that came down to the last mile.
Venters and Hurley put the pressure on Rodenfels, leading the defending champion past the iconic Radio City Music Hall through the first half of the race.
Venters, the former Utah Ute, remained in the lead entering Central Park, with Hurley and Rodenfels running off her heels through two miles.
As Venters tried to pull away with under a mile to go, Rodenfels countered her move and eventually went right past her with over four minutes remaining in the race.
“I had no plan at all,” Rodenfels said. “Just kind of wanted to see how I felt, and I think that’s where I made my move last year as well. I feel like I have an instinct of when people may be struggling a little bit and I try to take advantage of that in races. I didn’t feel good either, but I was like, ‘I’m going to push it here and make them react and see what happens,’.”
Hurley began falling out of title contention, leaving Rodenfels and Venters alone to battle for the top spot.
Relying on her own strength the last 800 meters, the veteran Rodenfels pulled away from Venters to claim back-to-back titles, winning by five seconds.
“This is truly one of my favorite weekends of the year; it’s so much fun,” Rodenfels said. “It was a great race. For a while there, I was like, ‘I don’t know about this one,’ at mile two, but I was able to rally and rely on my strength that I’ve been working on and really hoped that would carry me to the finish.”
Venters ran a respectable 15:25 for second place in her USATF Running Circuit debut just two months after finishing seventh at the TD Beach to Beacon 10 km Road Race in Maine.
Hurley held off the reigning Pac-12 5000m 10,000m champion Bailey Hertenstein for third place, besting the former Colorado Buffalo 15:31 to 15:32.
Susanna Sullivan, coming off a seventh-place finish at the Chicago Marathon as the top American, ran to a fifth-place effort in 15:36.
Abby Nichols and Paige Wood both ran 15:41, but Nichols was given the advantage for sixth and Wood claimed seventh.
Taylor Roe, another former college standout from Oklahoma State, claimed eighth in 15:43, while Natosha Rogers took home ninth in 15:45 and Molly Born managed 10th in 15:47.
Muhumed set an early, fast pace from the gun and began ahead of a men’s field that included defending champion Morgan Beadlescomb and a plethora of USATF Running Circuit veterans in Hillary Bor, Biya Simbassa and Anthony Rotich.
“I think this year what we're doing differently is we’re trying to not have any fear,” Muhumed said. “My coaches and I have talked about this already is we’re going to make sure it’s an honest race, and anybody that was going to beat me, it wouldn’t have come down to a kick.”
Drew Bosley, making his professional debut, was among notable former college standouts in the field who tested Muhumed early on, sitting right on his heels before entering Central Park.
In a group of 10 men out front, Muhumed put separation on the field by throwing in a big surge that opened up his lead by more than 20 meters in Central Park.
Muhumed’s move was more than enough to pull away for the win in the end despite a late charge from Sam Prakel in the last 400 meters. The results on paper showed Prakel trailed a second to Muhumed in 13:39 to place second overall, but the deciding factor was five minutes before that moment.
“It was good to be out here,” Muhumed said, who also won the USATF 8 km title back in July.
“It just showed the strength we’ve been building, and this was off of strength. I knew there were a bunch of kickers in this race, so I had to push it early on, otherwise it was going to come down to a kick. I got the kick, but I know there were a couple of milers in there.”
Brian Barraza followed Prakel in third in 13:42, while Kirubel Erassa and Hillary Bor battled for fourth and fifth place, with Erassa outkicking Bor by a margin of 13:44 to 13:45.
Rotich, the 2019 USATF 5 km champion, finished sixth in 13:48, with Bosley finishing a close second in seventh in 13:49.
Afewerki Zeru ran 13:52 for eighth, Biya Simbassa clocked 13:57 for ninth and defending champion Beadlescomb rounded out the top 10 in 13:59.
Within both of those races was another race for the top spot on the USATF Running Circuit standings.
Entering Saturday’s race, Bor and Hurley led their respective USATF Running Circuit divisions and left New York still atop the standings. Bor finishes the season as the men’s overall champion with 66 points and Hurley claims the overall women’s title with 70 points.
About the USATF Running Circuit
The USATF Running Circuit is a USATF road series featuring USATF championships from one mile through marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 awarded in total prize money. A total of $60,000 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF 5 km Championships.
The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF 5 km Championships, scoring is set as 15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, with those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series.
The mission of the USATF Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USATF Running Circuit and its race have provided over $7 million to U.S. Distance runners.
Contributed by Keenan Gray