COWTOWN NEWS & INFORMATION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 2/28/2016 Heidi Swartz – 817-207-0224, [email protected]

2016 Cowtown Distance Runners Break Course Records

(Fort Worth, TX) --Fort Worth, February 28, 2016 – The 38th Cowtown’s three Sunday distance races saw course records broken in both the men’s and women’s Half Marathon, as well as the women’s 50K Ultra Marathon presented by Miller Lite. In the third year of The Cowtown Elite Program, a 2016 cash prize pot of nearly $30,000 was shared by the top three finishers at each distance, and included a bonus prize given to the course record-breakers.

First place in the Men’s Half Marathon was taken by Kenyan Nelson Oyugi, 23, of Santa Fe, NM. At a finish time of 1:04:34, he broke the standing Cowtown course record of 1:06:00. Winning the Women’s Half was Kenyan Veronicah Maina, 26, of Lansing, MI, with a time of 1:11:44, besting the course record of 1:15:27.

The full Men’s Marathon was won by Kenyan Kimutai Cheruiyot, 30, of Chapel Hill, NC, with a time of 2:18:34. The men’s course record is 2:17:21. The Women’s Marathon winner was Kenyan Loice Kangogo, 33, of Chapel Hill, NC, with a time of 2:53:38. The Cowtown women’s course record is 2:42:31.

The Men’s Ultramarathon winner was Bryan Morseman, 30, of Bath, NY, making his Ultra distance debut at 3:01:44. The Cowtown Ultra course record is 3:00:21. Shattering the women’s course record of 3:54:20 with a blistering 3:21:30 time was Elizabeth Northern, 28, of Fort Worth. Northern, who also won Saturday’s Adult 5K race, is the only

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woman to have now won all five Cowtown distances. She competed two weeks ago at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.

Some 9,000 runners participated in the three Sunday races. Added to the 15,209 who finished the Cook Children’s 5K, the Adult 5K and the 10K races on Saturday, the 2016 Cowtown weekend participation totaled over 25,000 runners. Runners represented 49 states and 11 foreign countries.

Race proceeds benefit The Cowtown C.A.L.F. Program (Children’s Activities for Life and Fitness), which provides running coaching, grants for race entry fees and new running shoes to children in need across the community.

The Cowtown is one of the largest multi-event races in the State of Texas and was voted favorite marathon by Competitor Magazine readers in January 2015. Established in 1979, The Cowtown races are presented by the University of North Texas Health Science Center, Chase, HCA North Texas, MillerCoors, Star-Telegram, NBC 5, Cook Children’s Healthcare System and Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet.

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