THE WEEKEND AHEAD: USATF club cross country champs Saturday; HT'er Henry announces retirement...

Lexington, Kentucky is the site of USA Track & Field’s final major open national championship, as the National Club Cross Country Championship takes place Saturday.

With many of the country’s top distance runners resting up after a long season, the number of international and high-end national caliber entries isn’t as high, but there are some notable entries, including Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein and world championships competitors Augustus Maiyo and Lindsay Flanagan (left/photo by Paul Merca), along with recent world cross country championship team members Elaina Balouris and Sarah Pagano.

Besides Flanagan, notable runners with Washington ties entered in the meet include former Husky Aaron Nelson (Reebok Zap Fitness), Jessica Tonn (Brooks Beasts), and Washington State alums Ruby Roberts and Drew Polley.

Roberts and Polley are entered as part of Club Northwest’s team.  Other notables running on the Club Northwest squad include Seattle Pacific alum Turner Wiley, current SPU coach Chris Reed, and Western Washington’s Andrew Wise.  Seattle Running Club also has a team entered in the men’s 10k race.

The start lists for Saturday’s USATF National Club Cross Country Championship is available here. The link to live results is available here.

SPOKANE NATIVE BRITNEY HENRY ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT...

In a post on the Oiselle web site, hammer thrower and Spokane native Britney Henry (above/photo courtesy Oiselle) announced her retirement from the sport.

The graduate of Lewis & Clark HS made one national team during her career—the 2006 NACAC U-23 team, where she finished third. 

After graduating from the University of Oregon, Henry was a consistent top-10 finisher at the USATF national championships, with her best a third place finish in the 2010 nationals in Des Moines. She set her personal best of 233-10 (71.27m) in 2010.

You can read the post here.

As an added bonus, we've found from the archives a YouTube video of one of the coolest events ever contested at Hayward Field--the flaming hammer throw competition (NOTE:  Do not try this at home or at your local track & field facility)