Courtesy: Running USA

USA Track & Field announced recently the USA teams for the 10th IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships to be hosted by Bristol, England on Sunday, October 7. Team USA - led by its 2001 U.S. half-marathon champions, Dan Browne and Milena Glusac - is sporting its strongest combined teams since 1992. Nine of the ten team members have set half-marathon personal records this year - all at the USA Championship hosted by Parkersburg, West Virginia. Below are the five-member U.S. men and women's teams with their half-marathon PRs:

Dan Browne, 26, Lafayette, CO 1:03:55 ('01)
Jeff Campbell, 30, Rochester Hills, MI 1:05:10 ('01)
Mike Donnelly, 26, Providence, RI 1:05:49 ('01)
Scott Larson, 31, Boulder, CO 1:04:22 ('01)
Clint Verran, 26, Rochester Hills, MI 1:04:50 ('01)

Susannah Beck, 33, Eugene, OR 1:14:29 ('01)
Milena Glusac, 26, Fallbrook, CA 1:12:13 ('01)
Alison Holinka, 22, Williamsburg, VA 1:15:14 ('01)
Monica Hostetler, 25, Rochester, NY 1:14:42 ('01)
Sylvia Mosqueda, 35, Los Angeles, CA 1:10:47 ('87)

Team leaders are Carol McLatchie (Houston, TX) and Mark Curp (Lee's Summit, MO) and the team trainer is Alan Besslink (Austin, TX).

Like the past nine editions, individual and team competition (accumulative time by the top three individuals) should be intense. Along with individual and team titles, there is also $194,000 in prize money ($40,000, $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, $7000 and $5000).

The Bristol course will consist of two laps around the city center and docks and along the Avon River, passing many of the city's famous landmarks such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge and SS Great Britain. At sea level and with only two slight inclines, it promises to be fast course offering the potential of world and national record-breaking times.

Last year in Veracruz, Mexico, under hot and humid conditions, Kenya's Paul Tergat repeated as world champion in 1:03:47, while Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe won her first senior world title in 1:09:07. Team titles were earned by Kenya (men) and Romania (women). For the U.S., Clint Verran was 17th (1:05:56), the highest finish ever by a U.S. male at these championships and Milena Glusac placed 10th (1:13:53), also the highest U.S. female finish ever. The USA women's team was 5th and the men's team 13th.

At the World Championships, the best U.S. individual and team placements are: Clint Verran, 17th (1:05:56, '00) and Milena Glusac, 10th (1:13:53, '00) and the 2000 and 1992 women's team 5th (3:49:03/3:35:32) and the 1996 men's team 8th (3:13:52). The fastest times were produced in 1992 by Bill Reifsnyder, (1:02:00, 18th) and Gordon Bloch, (1:11:34, 14th).