Contact: Jean Knaack, (410) 290-3890; execdir@rrca.org

COLUMBIA, Md. - (January 12, 2007) - Since 1996, the Road Runners Club of America has awarded stipends through its Roads Scholar program to assist U.S. post-collegiate road runners who show great promise to develop into national and world class road running athletes. The RRCA is now accepting applications for our 2007-08 Roads Scholar Class. The application can be found on-line at www.rrca.org/programs/roadsscholar/. The deadline for applying is Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Roads Scholar program has distributed over $200,000 to emerging American distance runners. Grants in the amount of $5000 per year have been awarded to four to six athletes annually since the program's inception. The driving factor in the creation of this program was the goal of improving the state of long distance running in the United States. A sign of the program's success were the results of the 2004 Summer Olympics where Deena Kastor, a 1997 Roads Scholar grant recipient, captured the bronze medal in the woman's Olympic Marathon. In 2006, the program's success was again proven when Samia Akbar, 2006 Roads Scholar recipient, finished the ING New York City Marathon as the 3rd fastest U.S. female.

The program is directed towards runners who:
1) Are U.S. citizens
2) Have graduated from college (or whose class has graduated)
3) Plan to race in top Open road race events (not just track, cross country or US-only events)
4) Expect to earn less than $30,000 from all sources during the calendar year


The program has received generous financial support over the years from many donors. To view a list of the program supporters visit: www.rrca.org/grassroots.php

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Special thanks to 
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director.
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
http://www.runningusa.org