HOUGHTON, NY - May 26, 2017 - Houghton College will be hosting Ryan Hall, one of the top marathon runners in the world, for a one-day clinic, 5K and dinner speaking event on Saturday, June 17. This event is open to the public and features an a-la-carte option for friends and family members who wish to only participate in the 5K or dinner speaking event. For more information, visit www.houghton.edu/ryanhall.
In addition to Hall, Glen Avery, the oldest man at age 66 to run the World Marathon Challenge (seven marathons on seven continents in seven days), will also be participating in the clinic.
The clinic is sponsored by the Jones Memorial Hospital Ridge Walk & Run, Fitbit, Muscle Milk and Asics. The top two men and top two women finishers in the 5K will receive prizes of either a Fitbit Surge or a free registration for the 2017 Ridge Walk & Run. Other racers may receive various prizes from Asics and Muscle Milk.
The clinic will run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., is for runners of all levels and will include a Q & A with both Hall and Avery along with various breakout sessions covering proper running forms, weight training and conditioning, diet and hydration, massage techniques, drills, strides, form analysis, and Hall and Avery’s special tricks for mental preparation.
A 5K and autograph session with both Hall and Avery will be held starting at 4:15 p.m. All registered racers will receive a commemorative t-shirt.
Following the 5K, at 6:30 p.m., there will be an optional catered dinner event with Hall giving a keynote address to the attendees about his career and personal life.
Hall currently holds the U.S. Half Marathon record time (59:43) and became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour mark for this event. Hall also holds the unofficial U.S. Marathon record (2:04:58) as the first American to ever run a sub-2:05 Marathon, which he achieved at the 2011 Boston Marathon.
Hall was both a 2008 and 2012 Olympian and most recently placed fifth in the 2017 World Marathon Challenge, a grueling seven marathons on seven continents in seven days; Hall averaged a 3:39:36 time over the seven marathons.
In 2009, Ryan and his wife Sara formed the Hall Steps Foundation to empower the running community to use the energy and resources that fuel runners’ athletic achievements for social justice efforts.
Hall is sponsored by Asics, Fitbit and Muscle Milk and currently resides in Redding, Calif., with his wife, Sara (also a professional runner), and their four children, Hana, Mia, Jasmine and Lily.
Avery is one of a handful of people in the world ever to run marathons on seven different continents within one year on three different occasions, most recently doing so in seven days at the 2017 World Marathon Challenge. In addition, Avery was the oldest man ever to do so in seven days, out-aging the second oldest by more than a decade.
Avery began running at the young age of 51 and has since completed 90 marathons and 25 ultramarathons (averaging 40+ miles each), and his sights are set on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (Europe’s most competitive 100-mile race), which climbs the highest peak in western Europe and requires multiple qualifying races.
Avery currently lives in upstate NY with his wife, Margery.
For more information about this event, visit www.houghton.edu/ryanhall.
