INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The USA track & Field men's and women's Long Distance Running Committees have announced the 2006 U.S. team for the 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships. This year's 20K event will be take place in Debrecen, Hungary on October 8. The championships will offer a total of $245,000 in prize money.

The event will be contested on a 5,000 meter criterium-loop through the streets of Debrecen. Each team will consist of five athletes with the top three athletes scoring. The team members were selected based on performances at the USA championships for the half marathon, 20 km and 25 km.

MEN
Ryan Hall (Woodside, CA)
The 2006 USA 20 km and USA Cross Country 12 km champion, Hall will look to lead the U.S. men's team to improve upon their sixth-place finish at last year's championships. A Team Running USA athlete, Hall finished 19th at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 4 km in April.

Fernando Cabada (Bristol, VA)
The 2006 USA 25 km champion and American Record holder, Cabada was the 2005 NAIA 5,000 and 10,000 meter champion and has earned numerous All-American honors at Virginia Intermont College. Cabada finished second behind Hall at the USA 20 km Championships on Labor Day.

Andrew Carlson (St. Paul, MN)
Carlson made his debut in the half marathon distance earlier this year, finishing fifth at the USA Men's Half Marathon Championship with a time of 1:03:20. The Team USA Minnesota athlete has recorded a runner-up finish at the USA Men's 10 Mile Championship in April and a third-place finish at the recent USA 20 km Championships.

Joe Driscoll (Blowing Rock, NC)
A ZAP Fitness athlete, Driscoll finished fourth at the USA 20 km Championships in New Haven, Conn. placing him on his first ever Team USA roster. Driscoll was a three-time All-American in cross country and Track at the University of Portland.

Max King (Bend, OR)
A member of Team XO, King has recorded third-place finishes in the open men's 12 km at the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships and 2006 USA Men's Half Marathon Championships. King was a member of the Team USA squad for this year's IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan where he finished 57th in the 12 km.

WOMEN
Ann Alyanak (Bellbrook, OH)
Alyanak has continued to climb the U.S. ranks this year, finishing fourth at the USA Women's Half Marathon Championship in June and fifth at the recent USA 20 km Championships on Labor Day. Alyanak is an assistant cross country coach at the University of Dayton.

Annie Bersagel (Minneapolis, MN)
A Team USA Minnesota teammate of Carlson, Bersagel won the 2006 USA Women's Half Marathon Championship in June in Kansas City with a debut time of 1:14:36. Bersagel was also on the U.S. team that competed at the Yokohama Int'l Women's Ekiden in Japan in February.

Desiree Davila (Rochester Hills, MI)
A cross country and track All-American at Arizona State University, Davila was the runner up in the 10,000 meters at the 2003 Pac-10 Championships. Since joining the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project earlier this year she has finished third at the LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago and 13th at the USA 20 km Championships.

Erin Nehus (Indianapolis, IN)
A member of the Indiana Invaders, Nehus finished ninth at the USA 20 km Championships in New Haven with her debut effort in a USA road championship. Her 1:11:03 ninth-place finish made her eligible for selection to the U.S. team for the IAAF World Road Running Championships.

Sonja Friend-Uhl (West Palm Beach, FL)
Friend-Uhl qualified for the U.S. team at the USA 20 km Championships where she finished 11th in 1:12:10. A three-time representative for the U.S. in international Ekiden relays, Friend-Uhl is the President of RunFast Promotions, Inc.

Team Leaders
Mark Plaatjes, Boulder, Colo. - Plaatjes is the 1993 IAAF World Championships Marathon gold medalist and a registered Physical Therapist and co-owns the Boulder Running Company.

Ann Ringlein, Lincoln, Neb. Ringlein is the vice-President for Team Nebraska-Brooks and has coached at Nebraska Wesleyan for the last ten years.

For more information on the IAAF World Road Running Championships visit www.usatf.org.