Kiptoo, Hauger-Thackery Win Gate River Run 15K at First 2025 PRRO Circuit Stop

March 7, 2025

Men’s winner Wesley Kiptoo shattered 30-year-old event record; top finishers also scored points for $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus qualification; the American classic road race awarded $65,000 in prize and record bonus money

BETHESDA, MD (March 7, 2025) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/  – On a near perfect day for running, Sunday, March 1 at the 48th Gate River Run 15K in Jacksonville, FL, Wesley Kiptoo of Kenya and Calli Hauger-Thackery of Great Britain opened the 2025 PRRO Circuit racing season with dominant wins in 42 minutes, 10 seconds and 47:24, respectively. Kiptoo’s time set an event record, shattering the longstanding 42:22 run by Todd Williams in 1995. For the first time since 1993, when the race first served as the USATF Championship, elite international athletes could also compete with American runners at the Gate River Run, the newest member of the PRRO Circuit as the fifth circuit event.

In the men’s race, Kiptoo, 25, took out the pace from the gun and only Pat Tiernan of Australia dared to go with him before the 2024 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile and Quad-City Times Bix 7 winner methodically pulled away from the field and went unchallenged to the finish line with his historic 42:10 performance. American Brian Barraza, from Boulder, CO, was runner-up in 42:52, followed closely by Ireland’s Peter Lynch in 42:54.

For the women, like Kiptoo, Hauger-Thackery, 32, was the star of the field, as she broke away from her competition around the midpoint on the 9.3 mile course. The 2024 Olympic marathoner’s 47:24 was the fastest women’s time at Gate River since Shalane Flanagan’s 47:00 in 2014. Reigning PRRO champion Sarah Naibei of Kenya finished second in 48:15, and Uganda’s Rachael Chebet, the 2024 Quad-City Times Bix 7 winner, took third, crossing the line in 48:40. The first U.S. woman was Jessa Hanson of Flagstaff, AZ, who finished 5th (50:20).

Overall, the Gate River Run awarded $65,000 in prize money. As race champions, Kiptoo and Hauger-Thackery took home $7000 each. In addition, Kiptoo earned the $5000 bonus for crossing the finish line first in the Equalizer race where the elite women were given a 5-minute head start and a $3000 bonus for the event record; overall, Kiptoo had a nice payday of $15,000.

Along with their Open prize money ($4000 and $1000, respectively), Barraza and Hanson also pocketed $3000 each as the top Americans as part of the $16,000 “American Cup” purse for the first five U.S. finishers.

At the third stop on the 2024-25 PRRO Circuit, the Gate River Run champions also earned 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. Points standings can be found HERE.

“With an event record and other world class times, it was a great day of racing in Jacksonville. At the 2025 PRRO Circuit opener, the race winners also earned the right to compete for the $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus, and the other top 10 finishers earned points for possible Super Bonus qualification at the upcoming PRRO Championship,” said Don Kardong, PRRO Circuit President.

The Gate River Run is Jacksonville’s largest participatory sporting event with more than 18,000 entrants, including 13,860 finishers in the largest U.S. 15K and 1,454 in the 5K plus 1,000 in the Mile Challenge and 700 in the Junior River Run. Complete race results HERE.

The next 2025 PRRO Circuit stop is the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in Washington, DC on Sunday, April 6.

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

WINNERS: Wesley Kiptoo*, Kenya, 42:10 (event record) and Calli Hauger-Thackery, Great Britain, 47:24

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 five qualified athletes who have won 2024-25 Circuit events thus far as well as any new runner who wins one of the remaining two 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 $8.6 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.