Within a 48 hour period, Saucony athletes dominated road racing podiums from New York to Los Angeles to China.
Ben True won his third straight USA 15K title; Jared Ward was crowned
USA Marathon Champion; Molly Huddle became the first American winner of NYC
Half; and Chinese Olympian Li Zicheng won the Wuxi International Marathon.

“It’s always exciting when one of our athletes has a winning weekend, but to have four victories, including two national titles within a 48-hour period is unprecedented,” said Mark Bossardet, vice president of sports marketing for Saucony. “The whole Saucony team congratulates Ben, Jared, Molly and Li for their outstanding performances; they are obviously on track for a great season of spring racing.”
 
Saucony athletes swept the weekend of March 14-15 with the following performances:

  • Ben True, 29, of Hanover, New Hampshire earned his third straight USA Track and Field 15K Championships title in winning the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Florida by 11 seconds. With an unyielding final mile, True, who competed for Dartmouth College, finished in 44:03 to take the title, establishing himself as one of the best closers in American running. True, the 2013 and 2014 race winner is now the fourth man to win three consecutive Gate River Runs, joining Todd Williams (1994-96), Meb Keflezighi (2001-04) and Mo Trafeh (2010-12). Laura Thweatt, 2015 USA Cross Country Champion and Saucony athlete was second in the women’s division in 50:50.
  • Former Brigham Young track star Jared Ward, 26, won the 2015 USA Track and Field Marathon Championships title held as part of the Los Angeles Marathon. In conditions that were far from ideal for marathon running, including temperatures reaching nearly 80 degrees, Ward, of Provo, Utah closed hard to finish third overall in a time of 2:12:55. The overall men’s winner of the Los Angeles Marathon was Kenyan Daniel Limo (2:10:34). With Ward's U.S. Championship victory, he has the option to represent the USA at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.
  • Molly Huddle, 30, of Providence, RI won the 2015 NYC Half in a personal best of 1:08:31, equaling the course and event record and adding another achievement to her already impressive running résumé. Controlling the race with a consistent series of surges, the Notre Dame graduate became the first American champion in in the event’s 10-year history. Huddle, the reigning USA 5,000m champion, also won the New York Mini 10-K last June, setting the American all-women’s 10K record and becoming the race’s first American champion since 2004. The 2012 Olympian and 14-time national champion claimed the 2014 USA Running Circuit series title with victories at the USA 7-Mile Championships, USA 20K Championships, USA 5K Championships, and the US National 12K, the same race in which she ran an all-time world best for the distance in 2013.
  • Chinese Olympian Li Zicheng from Qingdao, China won the Wuxi International Marathon in 2:18:23.