Exercise Your Rights

Interesting article from New York Times on Nov 20th highlighting how sports are not available for women everywhere...

For Saudi Women, Biggest Challenge is Getting to Play

2010 Photos Are Up!

George Ross of Digital Photoconcept took some great photos of the race this past Sunday. Check out pictures of our kids races, the top New England runners and everyone in between.

2010 Ronald McDonald House of Providence Women's Classic Photos

Katie DiCamillo wins 2010 Ronald McDonald House of Providence Women's Classic Amgen 5k - Over $25,000 raised for the House

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Ronald McDonald House of Providence Women's Classic. You helped us raise over $25,000 for the Ronald McDonald House. This will go to help the House fulfill its mission to provide a safe comfortable place for families with children in need.

The Amgen 5k had a fantastic race at the front with PC grad Katie DiCamillo breaking the tape in 16:48. Katie ran with the pack for the first mile, hitting a 5:15 split and then edged away halfway down Blackstone Boulevard. Her second mile split was 10:44.

GBTC Photo by Tom Derderian

The winning club was the Greater Boston Track club, (Gretchen Chick, Sara Donahue, Anna Novick, Allison McCabe, & Jennifer Lee). Top Masters runner Maria-Luisa Servin and top Veteran, Jacqueline Shakar

Thank you to all runners, walkers and volunteers. Full results

Please post your feedback to the race in the comments below. How did you like the race? What could we do to make it even better next year?

Online Registration Closed

Online Registration for the Ronald McDonald House Women's Classic is now closed, but you can still sign up in person Saturday from 10:30 to 1:30 at Rhode Runner Sports at 271 S. Main Street, Providence or starting at 7:30 am at Brown University Stadium on race day this Sunday. Fill out the registration brochure. Race day registration is $20 and can be paid by cash or a check made out to RMH Providence.

All money will go straight to the Ronald McDonald House of Providence. We'll see you Sunday!

Early Packet Pickup Saturday

Avoid the crowds! Pick up your number and packet on Saturday, October 2nd, from 10:30 - 1:30 visit Rhode Runner Sports @ 271 South Main St., Providence.

Bring Extra Shoes to the Race! Give Your Sole Will Be There

Give Your Sole, a 501(c)3 public charity seeks to provide less fortunate men, women and children with moderately worn athletic shoes collected at race events.

All shoes collected at the 3rd Annual 
Ronald McDonald House of Providence 
Women's Classic
Amgen 5k Race 
& Cardi's Furniture 3k Walk will serve to help those in need in the Providence area through the efforts of the Ronald McDonald House.

Give Your Sole will have a collection table at the Health and Wellness Fair where we will be collecting shoes before and after the race. For further information about Give Your Sole, please visit us at www.giveyoursole.com.

Largest Prize Pool

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our community for the Ronald McDonald House Women’s 5k. We will be offering prizes, not just for the fastest runners, but we have over 70 great prizes available in our raffle. Prizes include $300 Cardi's gift certificates, $200 Providence Place Mall gift card, 15" HDTV/DVD player combo, and much more. See a list of just some of the prizes below.

At the end of the race, be sure to stop by the award ceremony booth and look for your number on the prize raffle board. All participants, runners, walkers and volunteers are eligible for some of the great prizes.

For the competitive runners, we are offering one of the best prize purses in New England. See our raffle page for more info. Open and age-group winners are eligible for both cash and merchandise prizes. Note that due to USATF rules, cash awards will be mailed after ratification by the USATF of the race (estimated to be one week), but winners can collect their merchandise prize the day of the race.

Some of the available prizes:

• Adler's Design Center & Hardware 2 gallons paint & 1 hour design consultation (total value $150)
• AMC Theater – 2 Movie Tickets with Popcorn
• Bath & Body Works $25 gift card
• Borders $25 Gift Certificate
• Burns Tools (Fall River, MA) $50 gift card
• CapuCine $50 Gift Certificate (this is written out to the RMH - is that ok?)
• Coldstone Creamery small round cake
• Garden Grille $20 Gift Card
• Green River Silver Co. $25 gift card
• It’s a Jungle Out There Basket -Books/Beanie Babies
• Julian's (restaurant) $25 gift card
• Kabob & Curry $20 Gift Certificate
• Lady Foot Locker $25 gift card
• Method Fitness 2 Personal Training Sessions
• Method Fitness 30 Day Pass to Fitness Boot Camp
• NE Runner Magazine 1 Year Subscription
• Olga's Cup & Saucer $20 gift card
• Pizza Gourmet $50 Gift Certificate
• Providence Place Mall - $200 gift card
• Puppy Love Basket (Books/Beanie Babies)
• Rasoi - $25 Gift Certificate
• Roger Williams Park Zoo, 2 admission passes
• Salon Wish $25 gift card
• Second Time Around $50 Gift Card
• Snookers $50 gift certificate
• Starbucks $25 gift card
• The Cutting Gallery $25 gift certificate
• Trader Joes Gift Bag (assorted snacks/drinks in a bag)
• White Electric Coffee $20 Gift Card
• Williams Sonoma $75 Gift Certificate
• 4 Espresso Cups/Saucers

We Will Have a Good Team

This year’s Amgen 5k Race (part of the Ronald McDonald House of Providence Women’s Classic) is the official 5k race of the USATF New England circuit called the Grand Prix. This means that the best women runners and teams from New England will be coming to compete. If this is your thing, it should be a pretty exciting race at the front.

This is the first year USATF New England has selected a women only race for one of the Grand Prix events and we are honored to have been selected. A women only race really shines a spotlight on the competitors who would normally get lost in the shuffle of a mixed gender race.

Some of the top New England clubs have already committed to bringing a team. Tom Derderian, coach for the Greater Boston Track Club threw down the gauntlet, “…we did win the Grand Prix last year and our team is leading this year. We will have a team. We have not picked the individuals yet. But we will have a good team.”

Central Mass Striders is bringing some serious contenders in the Masters (40+) division. Team captain Barbara McManus has already collected hardware this year winning 1st Masters at USATF New England Grand Prix events the DH Jones 10 Miler, Groton 10k, and the Stowe 8 Miler. Rounding out her team are other formidable athletes including Pat Clark (who is also the mother of 8 children) and former Brown track and Cross-country star Karen McGahie.

As more clubs commit to the race, we will do our best to update you with the field. Clubs, please send any info about your athletes to nich@rmhprovidenceclassic.org.

Women's Wellness Fair

Stick around after the race and check out the 3rd Annual Ronald McDonald House Women's Classic Wellness Fair. Come visit and learn from businesses and services in the community and join in the celebration of women, family, & wellness!


Full list of participants to date

Providence's own Molly Huddle wins USATF 5k National Championship in CVS/Caremark Downtown 5k

Congratulations to Molly Huddle on her win at the CVS/Caremark Downtown 5k which again this year served as the USATF National Championship race. Molly led from the gun and was able to hold off a late surge by Sara Hall. Her winning time was 15:48.

More about the race and an interview with Molly on Runnerspace

NiRoPe Chat Up the Classic on the Rhode Show

Thanks to Nick, Ron & Pete Cardi for talking about the Ronald McDonald House of Providence Women's Classic on WNAC's the Rhode Show. Cardi's Furniture has been a fantastic sponsor of the House since the beginning in 1989 having donated the furniture. This year Cardi's Furniture is the Presenting Sponsor for the 3k Walk.

Check out the video here, and thanks Guys!

New Automatic Timing System for Classic – The B-Tag

By popular demand, this year the Ronald McDonald House of Providence Women’s Classic races – Amgen 5k and the Cardi’s Furniture 3k will be timed using the new B-Tag System. Yankee Timing System will be providing an automatic timing system. Attached to the back of your number bib will be a little chip.

Click for Instructions for wearing B-Tag

When you cross the mat at the start of the race, your race begins. At the finish, instead separate chutes for the Amgen 5k and the Cardi’s Furniture 3k, there will be one finish mat. Cross the mat and you’ve finished. Congratulations!

Later, when you look up your race results, you will see two times, the “Gun Time” which is the official time and the “Net Time”. All awards – Open, Master and age-group will be based on the official “Gun Time” meaning the time from when the gun goes off until you finish the race. As a courtesy, we will also be providing you the Net time, so you can see the actual time it took you from the starting line to the finish.

Simpler at the start, simpler at the finish and a more accurate results for you. It's going to be a great race, we can't wait.

iRunLikeaGirl

Our friends at iRunLikeaGirl are a sponsor of the Classic this year. Come by their booth to see some of the latest fashions in running apparel. A portion of every sale goes straight to the Ronald McDonald House. Celebrate Your Ageless Girl Spirit!

Call for Volunteers

We are counting down the days! Just 18 days until race day! So far we have over 50 sponsors who have donated $60,000 in cash and in kind services, more than 75 prizes for awards and raffles have been collected, approximately 100 participants have already registered.

If you are interested in volunteering, please email bob@rmhprovidenceclassic.org. We're looking for folks to help at the following times:

Saturday, October 2 – from 3:00 – 5:30 PM at the Brown stadium
Help needed for the preliminary set up

Sunday, October 3 – from 6:00 – 8:00 AM at the Brown stadium
Help needed to complete the set up

Sunday, October 3 – from 8:00 – noon at the Brown stadium (if you want to compete, you can still help before and after the race)
Help needed with registration, t-shirt distribution, kids races, food and prize distribution, wellness fair, results, parking, course marshals, cleanup, etc.

During the next few weeks, we will be highlighting elements of the race. We hope to make this your favorite race. The race committee has been working especially hard this year. Stay tuned to this space!

Interview with new American 5k Record Holder, Providence's Molly Huddle

Another interview with the new American Record Holder:

http://www.universalsports.com/news/article/newsid=490635.html#huddle+humbled+american+record+5000m

RunProvidence's own Molly Huddle gets American Record in 5k

Congratulations to Providence's own Molly Huddle who broke the American Record in the 5k in Friday's IAAF Diamond League Meet in Belgium. Molly finished in 14:44.76 bettering Shalane Flanagan's record by .04 seconds.

The Belgian Diamond League Meet will be on NBC today (Sunday Aug 29th) at 3pm ET.

Full story and video interview with Molly available via LetsRun -http://www.letsrun.com/2010/belgium-0827.php