Professional track & field season winds down with IAAF Continental Cup and New Balance 5th Avenue Mile...

With the professional track and field season winding down, there is one significant meet left this weekend involving athletes with Washington ties.

In Ostrava, Czech Republic, Vancouver native Kara Winger (left/photo by Paul Merca), along with former Renton resident Devon Allen are part of Team Americas at the IAAF Continental Cup, with both competing on Sunday.

Winger, who finished third on August 30th in the Diamond League women’s javelin finals at the Weltklasse Zürich, will throw with Laila Ferrer Domingos of Brazil on the Americas squad.

Allen, who was sixth on August 31st in the 110 hurdles finals at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial meet in Brussels, Belgium, will team up with Jamaica’s Ronald Levy on the Americas team as they compete against teams from Europe, Africa and Asia/Pacific.

Allen’s race gets underway at 6 am local time (3 pm local time), while Winger throws at 8:13 am (5:15 pm local time).

After Saturday’s competition, which involved no athletes with Washington ties, Team Americas leads the meet with 135 points, followed by defending champion Europe with 123. Africa sits in third with 89 points while Asia-Pacific is fourth with 74 points.

The start lists and results for the IAAF Continental Cup are available here.

In New York, several of the top middle distance runners in the world are gathered for Sunday’s running of the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile on the streets of Manhattan.

Among those competing in the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile are University of Washington volunteer assistant coach Matthew Centrowitz; new Seattle resident Sam Prakel; and Drew Windle of the Brooks Beasts.

Those entered in the women’s invitational race include Camas’ Alexa Efraimson, and Washington alum Katie Mackey of the Brooks Beasts.

Centrowitz, the 2016 Olympic 1500 meter champion said in a release, “I’m very excited to return to New York City to end my 2018 season. I love running in New York and now that my father is back in New York as the director of track & field at Manhattan College, it’ll feel that much more of a homecoming.”

The New Balance 5th Avenue Mile will be televised on NBC Sports starting at 9am Seattle time.

The New York Road Runners release along with the entries for the race are available here.

NOTE:  The IAAF and the New York Road Runners contributed to this report.