TORRENCE BAGS $10,000 BONUS AND USA ROAD MILE TITLE
**Rowbury Wins Women's Crown**
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

David Torrence's second national title of the year came with a welcomed sweetener: a $10,000 bonus.

The USA indoor 3000m champion won yesterday's inaugural USA road mile championship in Minneapolis, and his sub-four minute winning time of 3:59.3 was good enough to pick up the event's $10,000 sub-4:00 bonus, plus the $4000 first place check.  For the former Cal Berkeley athlete the $14,000 payday is particularly important: he doesn't have a major shoe company sponsor.

Second place went to former NCAA stars Jon Rankin (UCLA/4:01.7) and Bobby Curtis (Villanova/4:02.0).

The women's title went to USA Olympic Trials 1500m champion and former Duke standout Shannon Rowbury.  Her finish time was a solid 4:33.4, but not good enough to pick up the women's $10,000 bonus for which a sub-4:28 was required.  Sara Hall, who ran at Stanford, was a distant second in 4:39.1 and Sara Vaughn, formerly of the University of Colorado, landed the final podium spot in 4:41.3.

Organized by Twin Cities Marathon, Inc., and part of the Medtronic TC 1 Mile in which about 3000 recreational runners took part, the race was the first-ever national road mile championship held in the United States.

"This was a great start for the USA 1 Mile Road Championships," commented USATF's Jim Estes who attended the event.  "Thanks to the partnership with the Medtronic TC 1 Mile, it's great to see an emerging star like David Torrence win a U.S. title.  Events like this are important because it gives David and his fellow athletes the chance to step up and perform at the championship level."