The Gate River Run (formerly the Jacksonville River Run) has served as the U.S. 15-Kilometer Championship since 1994 and in 2007 became the largest 15K race in the country in terms of entrants.

Clearly, this is one of the nation’s premier road racing events, with $85,000 in prizes going to America’s top distance runners. The stars of the show this year in Jacksonville, Fla., Sat., March 15, were Shalane Flanagan and Ben True.

Flanagan, bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, won the women’s 15K championship in an American record 47:03, surpassing Deena Kastor’s previous mark of 47:15 set in this race in 2003.

The 32-year-old from Portland, Ore., really went out aggressively in Jacksonville, running the first 5K in 15:29 (world record pace for the 15K distance). She ran the second 5K in 15:40 and the final 5K in 15:54.

The caliber of Flanagan’s performance is evident from the fact she finished more than two minutes ahead of Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, a Kenyan native who came to the US to go to college, wound up marrying an American, finished 12^th for the U.S. in the 10,000 meters at the 2012 London Olympics and was the two-time defending champion in this race! Cherobon-Bawcom, who lives in Rome, Ga., as well as Flagstaff, Ariz., where her husband attends Northern Arizona University, finished second on Saturday in 49:25.

The third-place finisher, in 49:50, was Amy Van Alstine, 23, of Flagstaff, who just happens to be the 2013 U.S. women’s cross-country champion.

Ben True, 26, who is a graduate of Dartmouth and lives and trains in Hanover, N.H., repeated as the men’s winner in Jacksonville. He ran 43:04 to prevail over Chris Derrick, 23, last year’s U.S. men’s cross-country champion, who finished in 43:15.

Third place in the men’s race went to Tim Ritchie, 26, of Brighton, Mass., who ran 43:24.

Ben True’s performance places him eighth on the all-time U.S. list for the 15K. The American record for the distance is 42:22, held by Todd Williams – a time he ran at the 1995 Great River Race, which he won five times.

Incidentally, Ben was both a star and a hard-luck guy at last year’s U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships as he finished fourth in both the 5000 and 10,000 meters. A top three finish in either event would have qualified him for the 2013 World Track and Field Championships in Moscow.

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