This year, athletes from nine countries, masters runners and top Philadelphia area runners will compete for a prize purse set at more than $70,000. Prizes are awarded to the top 10 elite men and women. Course record bonuses, masters and first male and female Philadelphia resident prizes are included. To learn more about the half marathon and the prize purse, visit www.runphilly.com

US sprinter Jordan Vaden has been announced as being a member of Team USA’s 4×100m relay pool for the World Cup competition held in Athens Greece. 2006 USA 200m Champion Rachelle Smith has cancelled her participation in the World Cup due to a slight hamstring injury.

Elite Athlete Field (as of Sept. 12, 2006 ? Subject to Change)

MEN

BIRMINGHAM, England — Russia’s women dominated the first day of Birmingham’s international track meet Saturday, giving the team the lead over the United States, Britain and China.

Russian women won the 400 meters, the 1,500, the 400 relay, the 400 hurdles and the 3,000 steeplechase. Also, Yelena Isinbayeva captured the pole vault at 15 feet, 7} inches. Only a Chinese victory in the javelin kept the Russians from a sweep of all women’s disciplines.

Russia leads with 165 points, 22 more than the Americans. Britain is third with 129 points and China is last with 73.

Isinbayeva set the world record in Birmingham in 2004, and was well below the mark of 16-5\.

“I’m not disappointed. I’m just so tired after Gothenburg and the weather was difficult today, the wind is going round,” Isinbayeva said. “I try to do the world record at every competition but always something is not right. I hope that soon everything will be right.”

Justin Gatlin had been expected to lead the American relay team, but the 100 co-world record holder was dropped after testing positive for testosterone or other steroids after a relay race in Kansas in April. The Olympic and world champion denies knowingly using banned substances.

Jordan Vaden of the United States won the 100 in 10.39 seconds, beating British sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis by 0.02. Dwain Chambers finished third in 10.43.

American women ran with news that Marion Jones had failed a doping test in June at the U.S. championships, where she won the 100.

“I’m shocked,” Moushami Robinson said after finishing fourth in the 400, which Tatyana Veshkurova of Russia won in 51.29.

Race organizer Fast-Track Events said it was withholding payment to Jones for her appearance at a meet in London last month until the case is resolved.

The U.S. women’s 400 relay team finished runner-up to Russia, which won in 43.46.

Russia also scored victories behind Tatyana Veshkurova in the 400 (51.29), Olga Yegorova in the 1,500 (4:09.53) and Tatyana Petrova in the 3,000 steeplechase (9:22.82, a personal best).

After Birmingham, Vaden will then travel to Brussels Belgium for the Memorial Van Damme Golden League meeting. He will try to produce another sub :20 secs. clocking in his specialty event - 200 meters. Vaden burst onto the T&F world by running :19.98 at the USA Championships in June. His European season has been his first with great learning experiences at Lausanne, Huesden-Zolder and Stockholm.

Said Ahmed will be traveling back to Europe looking to push his PRs further up the world-ranking ladder. While in the US, Ahmed traveled to Eugene Oregon (site of the 2008 US Olympic Trials) on Aug. 8th and competed in an event to support the USA’s Professional Athlete’s Association for T&F athletes. Running his specialty, Ahmed placed 2nd running 3:38.30 and continuing a career breakthrough season. Eugene was the place of Ahmed’s previous PR when he ran 3:37.40 at the 2004 Prefontaine Classic. Since then, Ahmed has run PRs of 3:37.33 at Huesden-Zolder and then 3:35.94 in Stockholm placing 1st and 2nd respectively in 2006.

Ahmed is scheduled to travel to the Athletics Bridge 2006 in Slovakia Banska Bystrica on Aug. 27th and Dubnica on Aug. 29th. On Sept 1st Ahmed will wrap up his European tour at the Konigs Wusterhausen meeting in Germany.

World ranked US hurdler Joel Brown will travel to the Weltklasse-Zurich (Aug. 18th) meeting in Switzerland to compete in the 110m hurdle event. Brown is looking to get his season back on track from early spring when he won four consecutive races (Penns Relays, Kingston Jamaica, Rio and Fortazela Brazil). His 2nd place finishes in Belgium at Liege and Huesden-Zolder were key races and helped produce a 4th place finish in Stockholm.

US 200m Champion and 2005 WC Silver-medalist Rachelle Boone-Smith has decided to skip the Norwhich Union International Match in order to prepare for the IAAF Grand Prix Finale and World Cups in Athens where she will run both the 200m and 4×100m relay.

Mario Macias was hot this spring running PBs of 13:38 (5,000m) and 28:02 (10,000m) on the track in the US. Macias has decided to stay in the US and continue to race on the roads. He has been confirmed for both the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 Marathon (Sept. 3rd) and the Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run (Sept. 17th).

Competing in both the 100m and 200m events in Rethymo Greece, Boone-Smith won her specialty and placed 2nd in the other. The 100m race was first and Boone-Smith eagerly awaited the match-up with Alyson Felix (World Champion at 200m), Torri Edwards, Jamaican Sheri-Ann Brooks and Cydonie Mothersill. Boone-Smith got away well but couldn’t quite catch Tori Edwards. The time was a seasonal best of :11.04 but the wind reading was over the allowable 2.0. She returned in the 200m event where she won silver last year at the World Championships and displayed the poise and speed of the #2 ranked world performer in that event. Her time of :22.50 easily bested the field but again the wind reading was unkind. Boone-Smith looks for a greater challenge in her specialty on Tuesday in Stockholm when she is scheduled to race against Sherone Simpson of Jamaica who owns the two fastest times in 2006 (Rachelle has the #3 ranked time of :22.31 in winning the US title in June).

At the KBC/Night of Athletics meeting held in Huesden-Zolder Belgium, Said Ahmed started things off with a bang for World Express. Running in the 1st section of 2 in the 1500 meter event; Ahmed ran smartly behind the pace makers hitting splits of :57, 1:57 and 2:55. With the sounding of the bell, Ahmed took control of the race and the lead opening up a 2 second gap between himself and the field. As he entered the homestretch, the clock was the only thing running against Ahmed. He stopped every runner’s enemy (the official clock) at 3:37.33. This time the enemy was a friend rewarding Ahmed with a new personal best improving on his previous best from 2004.

Top 10 world ranked hurdler Joel Brown continues to work out the kinks from an injury suffered earlier in the year. In Liege on Wednesday, Brown placed 2nd. On Saturday, Brown enjoyed his usual good start but was overtaken at the last hurdle and placed 2nd with a :13.47 clocking. Brown looks to get back into the hurdle wars that have produced a world record and new american record.

U.S. Championship runner-up Jordan Vaden looked to continue his winning ways in his speciality event (200m). After winning the 100m event earlier in the week in Liege Belgium (:10.21), Vaden was looking for similar results in his signature event. As the field raced toward the finish line, Vaden held a slight lead and leaned nicely at the tape. The finish was so close that both 1st and 2nd place were given the same time (:20.53). Vaden was regulated to 2nd but more bad news would soon follow. After watching a replay of the race, officials discovered that Vaden had incidently run out of his lane thus causing him to be disqualified.

Japanese and USA success in the sprints

On the track, Masato Naito of Japan clipped 0.01 seconds from his PB in the men?s 110m Hurdles when winning in 13.46 seconds. His compatriot Yuiji Ohasji placed second, 0.26 seconds behind.

Rachelle Boone-Smith of the USA, the World Championships silver medallist at 200m, easily won the women?s 100m. She clocked 11.43 and was 0.26 seconds faster than Finland?s Heidi Hannula, a European Indoor 60m finalist, who has suffered from a damaged hamstring during the last 3 - 4 weeks.

In the men’s 1500m event, the USA’s Matt Tegencamp sprinted home for the victory with a career best of 3:38.26. His countryman, Said Ahmed scored a seasonal best in 4th with a 3:39.92 clocking.

Trailing as he approached the final three barriers, Xiang, still only 21, powered over the remaining three hurdles to eclipse the previous record of 12.91 he shared with Colin Jackson of Great Britain. In one of the finest races ever, Dominique Arnold of the U.S. was second, and also dipped under the previous record as well, reaching the line in 12.90 to break the U.S. record of 12.92 shared by Roger Kingdom and Allen Johnson. It was a massive improvement for the 32-year-old Arnold, whose previous personal best was 13.01 from 2005.

Boone-Smith was looking to continue her success in both the 100 and 200 meter events as she did in 2005. Last year, Boone-Smith placed 4th in the 100m and 2nd in the 200m events at the US Championships. She ran career best of :11.17 and :22.22. Later at the World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki, she won the silver medal further establishing her #2 world ranking. This year she again repeated her 4th place finish in the 100m event but claimed her first national title by winning the 200m event. Boone-Smith?s time of :22.31 is the 4th fastest in the world for 2006 and continued her endeavor of being one of the world’s best sprinters.

Jordan Vaden was looking to start his athletic endeavors by simply catching the attention of the sport’s public by running creditable times. He entered the 100 and 200 meter events at the US Nationals with the hopes of making the finals. He previous best were :10.30 and :20.59. Vaden enjoyed an ?under-the-radar? career in college at Division II Livingston College. The North Carolina native chose to stay close to home and won the NCAA Div-II 200m title as well as placing 2nd in the 400m event. But after college, Vaden?s transition to the professional ranks was a bit rocky. He finally settled down with an individual program and coaching in 2006. The benefits have paid off tremendously for Vaden and his development.

In the 100m event, Vaden ?enjoyed? running three rounds in one day and reaped the rewards by placing 4th in the finals as well as a new PR :10.20. Vaden returned to the track the next two days to manage the three rounds of the 200 meter event. He scored a new PR in winning his semifinal heat with a :20.39. As he lined up for the finals, both coach (Marc Sweet) and agent knew they were in store for something special. Bursting out of the blocks, Vaden ran an excellent turn entering the straight with a significant lead. As the field headed down toward the finish, the stadium was in shock as this ?Cinderella Story? was unfolding in front of their eyes. Vaden was only five meters away from upsetting not one but two of the world’s best long sprinters (Olympic 400m gold-medalist Jeremy Wariner and World 200m silver-medalist Wallace Spearmon Jr.).

Spearmon Jr. too sensed an upset and desperately willed his body across the finish line .08 ahead of Vaden. As the times were posted on the scoreboard, the runner-up was visibly upset. Though the time for Vaden read a huge improvement (:19.98), he was disappointed in not winning the race. When asked what happened, Vaden replied ?I only ran 195 meters because I was surprised that no one was with me. I promise that I will not make that mistake again?.