BOSTON - A day after winning the B.A.A. Half Marathon, Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (Rome, Ga.) dominated the field at the USA Women's 10 km Championships Monday in Boston, Mass., running 32:47 for her third U.S. title of the year. Cherobon-Bawcom also secured the women's title for the 2011 USA Running Circuit.

While unseasonably warm conditions met the women’s field for the 35th annual Tuft's Health Plan 10K, the lead pack went straight to work with an opening mile of 5:08.

Cherobon-Bawcom positioned herself at the front of the pack which included two-time women's 10 km champion Katie McGregor (Minneapolis, Minn.), Kim Conley (West Sacramento, Calif.), Emily Brown(Minneapolis, Minn.), Tera Moody (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and international athletes Bekelch Bedada (Ethiopia) and Megan Brown (Canada).

Nearing two miles, Bedada, Cherobon-Bawcom and Conley opened a 10 meter gap on McGregor and Moody with Cherobon-Bawcom clearly in control.

Surging away from Bedada and Conley at three miles, Cherobon-Bawcom quickly opened a 10 meter lead. She passed 5 km in 16:12 and extended her lead to 17 seconds at four miles, as McGregor overtook Conley to move into second.

Cherobon-Bawcom cruised to the finish to celebrate a 30 second victory over McGregor, while Conley held on for third, running 33:35.

Video highlights

In cooperation with RunnerSpace.com, highlights of the USA Women’s 10 km Championship are available at www.USARunningCircuit.com.

About the USARC
 
The USA Women’s 10 km Championships was the final stop on the 2011 USA Running Circuit (USARC) and will pay a total of $28,450 in U.S. prize money to champion Cherobon-Bawcom. She earned $7,450 for winning Monday.

With her victory in the 10 km, Cherobon-Bawcom went on to claim first in the women’s standings with 45 points.

The men’s circuit concluded last week with Ben True (Hanover, N.H.) taking the circuit title with 60 points. 

The 2011 USARC is a USA Track & Field road series, featuring USA Championships from one mile to the marathon and attracts the country’s best distance runners. The circuit features ten events for men and nine for women and for the first time in 2011 include the USA Cross Country Championships.

The 2011 USARC features more than $450,000 in circuit prize money with U.S. athletes competing for the right to represent Team USA in various international competitions.
 
The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USARC race (15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1), with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6,000, $4,000, and $2,500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall. 
 
The mission of the USA Running Circuit is to showcase, support, and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USARC and its races have provided over $6 million dollars to U.S. distance runners.