MAIER, ROE WIN USATF HALF-MARATHON TITLES IN DRAMATIC FASHIONBy David Monti, @d9monti.bsky.social(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
ATLANTA (02-Mar) — In near-freezing temperatures with biting winds, Alex Maier and Taylor Roe of North Carolina-based Puma Elite Running won the USATF Half-Marathon Championships this morning in dramatic fashion. The former Oklahoma State All-Americans survived fast, early paces in their respective races, then used their strength to pull away from their remaining rivals in the final miles. Both athletes won their first national titles, $20,000 in prize money, and guaranteed berths on Team USATF for the World Athletics Road Running Championships in San Diego in September.
“They did OK,” joked their coach Alistair Cragg. “For two youngsters at this level they acted like old veterans out there. It was great; fun to see.”
KELATI BLOWS OPEN WOMEN’S RACE
National half-marathon record holder Weini Kelati (Under Armour / Dark Sky Distance), made the first big move in the women’s race. After following the solid early pace set by Emily Venters (Nike) who went through 5 km in 16:15, Kelati surged in the sixth mile, splitting 10 km in 32:03 with an eight-second lead over Roe, Emma Grace Hurley (Asics / Heartland TC), Amanda Vestri (Brooks / ZAP Endurance), and Jess McClain (Brooks).
“Pretty decisive move,” said 2004 Olympian Carrie Tollefson on the race broadcast.
Indeed, it looked like Kelati –whose personal best of 1:06:09 was over a minute faster than any other woman in the field– would run away with the race. But in the eighth mile, Roe and Hurley began to work together to reel her in.
“Taylor got moving and I went with her,” Hurley told Race Results Weekly. “She kind of made a comment to me, like, ‘let’s go try to catch her,’ so we tried to pick it up and gain on Weini.” She added: “It was awesome to be chasing her.”
Forty-three minutes and five seconds into the race, Roe and Hurley caught Kelati. The trio ran together only briefly before Roe pressed the pace and she and Hurley began to pull away. By the 15 km point (47:50) Hurley had just run a 15:39 5-kilometer segment with Roe just one second behind. Kelati was eight seconds back, and Vestri was running alone in fourth place after pulling away from Venters.
Hurley –who grew up in nearby Roswell and formerly represented the Atlanta Track Club– knew the course better than Roe, and made good use of the many short hills in the latter stages of the race. She built a small gap on Roe, but the 2023 Big 12 5000m champion had more in the tank. Roe pulled even with Hurley, then began to get away. She felt confident in her fitness based on the training she had done with her group which includes Fiona O’Keeffe, the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon champion.
“I train with some of the best people, best in the world, best in the U.S.,” Roe said in her post-race broadcast interview. “I came in with confidence. What my competitors are going to do to me today is nothing I haven’t faced in practice.”
Roe ran alone to the finish in the Home Depot Backyard adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and broke the tape in a championships record of 1:07:22. She smashed her personal best by nearly a minute and a half, and made her first national team.
“It’s good news, but it’s bad news that I have to run another half-marathon,” Roe said with a laugh. She added: “I’m really glad, grateful.”
Hurley, who only finished 89th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in her senior year at Furman University, held on to second place and finished in a big personal best of 1:07:35. Like Roe, today’s race was only Hurley’s second half-marathon and she thought that she got her tactics nearly right.
“I may have gone a bit early, although I think sometimes in the race if you’re feeling good it’s OK to take a little bit of a risk,” Hurley told Race Results Weekly. She continued: “It was so special to be out there today.”
Kelati struggled in the final kilometers of the race, and was passed by Vestri, McClain and Venters (she finished sixth in 1:09:07). Vestri held on for third, and in her third half-marathon clinched her first national team berth in 1:08:17. She was very happy with her race.
“By the grace of God,” Vestri said, when asked how she maintained her composure in the final stages of today’s competition. “That was the only thing I was holding on to towards the end. I was like, God, just get me through this. Miles eight to twelve I was suffering pretty bad.”
McClain finished fourth, the same position as in last year’s USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon. But the 33 year-old from Phoenix was pleased with a new personal best of 1:08:37 while in the middle of her mileage-heavy Boston Marathon build-up.
“It’s OK,” said McClain, who had trouble getting her words out because her jaw was so cold. “I would much rather take fourth than Amanda. I’m happy.” She added: “I felt really good on the hills; that’s a good sign for Boston.”
Given the cold temperatures, strong winds, and hilly course, it was remarkable that the first ten women broke 1:10.
BOR TAKES IT OUT HARD
Two-time Olympic steeplechaser Hillary Bor (Hoka) stated his intentions early in the men’s race, going right to the front from the gun. He clicked off the first two miles in 4:37 and 4:28, respectively, and built up a small lead. But by the 5 km point (14:06) the main pack of Teshome Mekonen (On), Nate Martin (Asics), Joe Klecker (On Athletics Club), Andrew Colley (ZAP Endurance), Ahmed Muhumed (Hoka NAZ Elite), Shadrack Kipchirchir (Puma / American Distance Project), and Maier were with him again.
“You know I looked at the entries and I knew there were a lot of 10-K guys,” Bor told Race Results Weekly. “I didn’t want it to come down to a kick.” He added: “I knew if I was going to make the team I had to run my own race.”
Bor, Martin, Mekonen and Muhumed got away in the fourth mile, but the chase pack –led by Colley– closed them down just a mile later. Bor was still leading at the 10 km point (28:27), but the pack had grown to nine: Bor, Mekonen, Muhumed, Martin, Colley, Klecker, Maier, Kipchirchir, and Ryan Ford (ZAP Endurance). Bor decided to put in another move, and he and Mekonen started pulling away from the field in the eighth mile, but then he backed off his pace again.
“I was expecting someone to come with me,” said Bor. “When I got to mile seven I didn’t want to run all the second half by myself. I slowed down, waited for the crew and run with the group.
By the 15 km mark (42:55) only Klecker, Martin and Mekonen had been dropped. That’s when Maier asserted himself. He got on the front, and started to pull the field single-file. Only Bor and Kipchirchir could stay with his pace. Like his teammate Roe, he was feeling confident.
“I mean, I knew I was capable of it,” said the 24 year-old Maier. “I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself coming into it. I’m still relatively new to marathons, half-marathons. I felt like I was in a good place fitness-wise.”
With about a mile to go, Maier dropped both Bor and Kipchirchir. He ran unchallenged to the finish, breaking Publix-branded finish tape in 1:00:48, a three-second personal best.
“It was about going out and running my best race,” said Maier, who enjoyed the hilly course. “It reminds me a lot of Oklahoma State, training on our cross country course. Our cross country course is super hilly, right? So, I feel like I was very in my element today.”
Kipchirchir edged Bor for second, 1:00:58 to 1:00:59. Kipchirchir, the 2022 USATF cross country champion, got a personal best. Bor was disappointed not to get the victory.
“I wanted to win,” Bor told reporters. “Every time I start on the line I want to win. But, at the end of the day I ran my race, I made the team, and I’m glad for Shaddy. This is a strong guy. It’s good to compete.”
Muhumed took fourth in 1:01:03, a personal best, and Colley –who did a lot of the work mid-race– was fifth in 1:01:09. He had hoped to make the team after recovering from a virus and training well.
“I didn’t really have any expectations for how it would run out,” Colley told Race Results Weekly. “The glutes started seizing up when everybody started moving and I tried to just stay focused and keep an eye on them. I got closer, but by the time I started feeling good again it was gone.”
PHOTO: Taylor winning the 2025 USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Amanda Vestri (third), Taylor Roe (first) and Emma Grace Hurley (second) were the podium finishers at the 2025 USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Shadrack Kipchirchir (second), Alex Maier (first) and Hillary Bor (third) were the podium finishers at the 2025 USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Alex Maier winning the 2025 USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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