Gate River Run 15K Draws Top International, U.S. Fields for First 2025 PRRO Circuit Stop

February 28, 2025

First opportunity this year for top finishers to score points for $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus qualification; the American classic road race in Jacksonville, FL offers a $62,000 guaranteed prize purse and record bonus money

BETHESDA, MD (February 28, 2025) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The Gate River Run 15K, set for Saturday, March 1 in Jacksonville, FL, opens the 2025 PRRO Circuit racing season, and for the first time since 1993, the event is open to elite international athletes. The event had served as the USATF 15K Championships with the field limited to Americans-only for the past 31 runnings. The 48th edition offers $62,000 in guaranteed prize money, including an “American Cup” $16,000 purse for the top five U.S. athletes. The purse also includes the always exciting Equalizer gender race offering a $5000 bonus to the first male or female across the finish line with the elite women given a 5-minute advance start on the men. The event, in addition, offers World, American and course record bonus money ($10,000, $5000 and $3000, respectively).

At the third stop on the 2024-25 PRRO Circuit, the race champions will also earn automatic eligibility to compete for the $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus at the 28th PRRO Championship hosted by the Boilermaker 15K on July 13, 2025 in Utica, NY. In addition, PRRO recently announced a new points system in which the 2-10 finishers at the five Circuit events earn points with the top 5 scorers overall before the PRRO Championship also qualifying to compete for the Super Bonus.

The top runners expected at Gate River include:

MEN: Tebello Ramakongoana (LES), reigning PRRO champion, 2024 Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K winner; Wesley Kiptoo (KEN), 2024 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile & Quad-City Times Bix 7 winner; Athanas Kioko (KEN), 2024 Falmouth Road Race & Philadelphia Distance Run runner-up; Charles Hicks (GBR), two-time European Cross Country under-23 champion (2021-22) & 2022 NCAA Cross Country champion, also attended high school in Jacksonville; Tsegay Weldlibanos (ERI), 2024 California International Marathon winner, and Pat Tiernan, (AUS), three-time Olympian and 4th 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon

WOMEN: Sarah Naibei (KEN), reigning PRRO champion, 2024 Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K winner; Rachael Chebet (KEN), 2024 Quad-City Times Bix 7 winner; Calli Hauger-Thackery (GBR), Paris Olympian and 2024 California International Marathon winner; Lemlem Hailu (ETH), 2020 Tokyo Olympian; Grayson Murphy (USA), two-time World Mountain Running champion, and Mahlet Mulugeta (ETH), 6th 2024 Quad-City Times Bix 7

“This Saturday, March 1 on the streets of Jacksonville, we are expecting some world class racing at PRRO’s newest member, the Gate River Run 15K, as the runners compete for the $62,000 prize purse, race winner $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus qualifying as well as Super Bonus points scoring,” said Don Kardong, PRRO Circuit President.

The Gate River Run – includes a 15K, 5K, Mile Challenge, Junior River Run and Diaper Dash – is Jacksonville’s largest participatory sporting event with more than 18,000 expected downtown. The largest U.S. 15K, with more than 11,000 finishers, is also the home of the ratified U.S. road records set by Olympians Todd Williams – 42:22 (1995) and Shalane Flanagan – 47:00 (2014).

The PRRO Circuit showcases world class competition at five of America’s Classic Road Races™, the Gate River Run 15K in Jacksonville, FL, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in Washington, DC, the Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K in Spokane, WA, the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY and the Quad-City Times Bix 7 in Davenport, IA. The 2024-25 PRRO Circuit offers more than $400,000 in guaranteed prize money overall with $113,600 for U.S. athletes. The PRRO Circuit, a nationwide series of premier non-marathon road racing events, is organized and promoted by the Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO), an alliance of race directors.

THE PRRO CIRCUIT 2024-25 SCHEDULE

Boilermaker 15K, July 14, 2024, Utica, NY

$65,100 in prize money ($14,500 U.S. prize money)

WINNERS: John Korir*, Kenya, 42:11 and Grace Loibach Nawowuna*, Kenya, 49:18

50th Quad-City Times Bix 7, July 27, 2024, Davenport, IA

$50,000 in prize money

WINNERS: Wesley Kiptoo*, Kenya, 32:27 and Rachael Chebet*, Uganda, 36:11

Gate River Run 15K, March 1, 2025, Jacksonville, FL

$57,000 in prize money ($16,000 U.S. prize money) plus $5000 Equalizer gender race and World, U.S. & course record bonus money

Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile, April 6, 2025, Washington, DC

$80,600 in prize money ($48,600 U.S. prize money) plus performance bonuses

Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K, May 4, 2025, Spokane, WA

$81,000 in prize money ($20,000 U.S. prize money)

THE 28th PRRO CHAMPIONSHIP

Boilermaker 15K, July 13, 2025, Utica, NY

$65,100 in prize money ($14,500 U.S. prize money) as well as:

• $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus to male or female champions who have won any of the PRRO Circuit 2024-25 races or finished top 5 in the points system (split if both eligible male and female win)
• $2500 to male or female championship winners who have not won any races on the 2024-25 Circuit
• $1500 to eligible PRRO event champions, males and females, finishing in places 2-10

* = Automatically qualified to compete for the $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus at the 2025 PRRO Championship.

Reigning PRRO champions Tebello Ramakongoana and Sarah Naibei, who won the 2024 PRRO Championship at the Lilac Bloomsday 12K, were the first two athletes to earn a chance to compete for the $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus at the 2025 PRRO Championship. In pursuit of the Super Bonus, the pair join the four qualified athletes who have won 2024-25 Circuit events thus far as well as any runner who wins one of the remaining three Circuit events listed above or finishes in the top 5 in the points system.

Only current PRRO Circuit event champions are eligible for the PRRO Event Champion’s Bonus ($1500 for eligible athletes who do not win the PRRO Championship but do finish in places 2-10 at the PRRO Championship).

If the male and/or female winners of this summer’s PRRO Championship at Boilermaker have not won any of the events on the current Circuit, they will be awarded $2500 each as the PRRO Championship winners in addition to the prize money at the PRRO Championship event.

To-date, PRRO Circuit events have produced 17 world and 19 U.S. road records, awarded more than $8.5 million in prize money and seen more than 2.7 million runners cross their finish lines. In addition, since 1996, the PRRO Championship race has paid out more than $2.2 million including $188,500 in PRRO Championship bonus money.

PRRO Championship and Circuit Year

The PRRO Circuit, launched in 1995, starts and finishes the Circuit Year at the same event that will also host the season-ending PRRO Championship race. The reigning titlists of the PRRO Championship, the event winners on the current Circuit and the top 5 in the PRRO Super Bonus points system are eligible to compete for the PRRO Super Bonus at the PRRO Championship.

Visit PRRO.org for more information, including its history and past champions, as well as how to join the PRRO Circuit.