Top Olympic hopefuls to vie head-to-head in two-person marathon relay on Dec. 13

Dallas Marathon Press Release 

DALLAS (Dec. 9, 2015) – Ten top Team USA hopefuls for the 2016 Summer Olympics are participating in the Duo to Rio Relay sponsored by AT&T – a two-person marathon relay challenge – on Dallas Marathon race day this Sunday, December 13. Race officials announced the pairings today:

Abdi Abdirahman & Deena Kastor
Sam Chelanga & Molly Huddle
Meb Keflezighi & Becky Wade
Luke Puskedra & Annie Bersagel
Jared Ward & Desi Linden

The five male-female teams will run head-to-head to determine which pair can complete the Dallas Marathon course the fastest; male runners will run the first 13.1 miles of the marathon course and handoff to the female competitors who will compete the second half marathon leg of the relay. All athletes participating in the Duo to Rio Relay sponsored by AT&T have previously qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. 

Abdirahman and Kastor enter the field with the deepest collective race experience, having represented Team USA at a combined seven Olympic Games.

Chelanga and Huddle are the reigning male and female champions in the USATF 10 Mile. The duo represents a promising future in American distance running: Huddle, the 5,000m American record holder and a 2012 Olympian, and Chelanga, a two-time champion in the U.S. National 12K Race.

Dallas native Becky Wade is among the youngest female competitors qualified for the Olympic Trials; the 26-year-old local favorite that won her marathon debut in 2013 teams up with three-time Olympian and former Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon winner Keflezighi.  

Puskedra and Bersagel carry some of the fastest American marathon finishes into the Duo to Rio Relay sponsored by AT&T. Bersagel has the fifth fastest time by an American woman this year and Puskedra owns the fastest marathon finish by any American in 2015, having run 2:10:24 at the Chicago Marathon. 

Ward and Linden represent two of America’s top marathon runners in recent years. Linden was a 2012 Team USA Olympian and the first female American finisher at the 2015 Boston Marathon, and Ward is the reigning U.S. champion in the marathon.

The Duo to Rio Relay sponsored by AT&T is held as part of the 45th running of the Dallas Marathon, Half Marathon and Behringer Relay. For more information, visit dallasmarathon.com.