/ Running Community News / By Jean Knaack
Race champions will be eligible for $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus at 2025 PRRO Championship hosted by Boilermaker
UTICA, NY – Anticipation is running high for the 2024-25 PRRO Circuit season-opener at the 47th Boilermaker 15K presented by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield on Sunday, July 14. The Boilermaker male and female winners will earn eligibility for the PRRO Super Bonus, now at $20,000 (split if an eligible male and female win at the championship), to be awarded at the 2025 PRRO Championship. This year, the guaranteed $40,500 race prize money goes ten deep with each winner earning $7000 plus an American purse of $14,5000 for the top five American finishers. The 2024 Boilermaker, which sold-out with 10,000 entrants, will also host the 28th PRRO Championship in July 2025.
The defending race champions, Jemal Yimer from Ethiopia and Jesca Chelangat from Kenya, will face a top international field, including for the men, 2023 runner-up John Korir (KEN), Wesley Kiptoo (KEN) and Biya Simbassa (USA), and for the women, 2023 runner-up Sarah Naibei (KEN), 2019 race champion Caroline Rotich (KEN) and 2016 race champion Cynthia Limo (KEN).
Last year, Yimer and Chelangat set course records of 42 minutes, 6 seconds and 47:33, respectively, and if Yimer wins this year, he will be the first man to three-peat at Boilermaker.
“The Boilermaker Road Race is a summertime community classic with world class competition, and we look forward to some hot racing at the PRRO Circuit opener,” said Don Kardong, Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO) Circuit President. “The excitement will be further enhanced by the two winners earning a chance to take home the $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus at next year’s race.”
The PRRO Circuit showcases world class competition at four of America’s Classic Road Races™, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in Washington, DC, the Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K in Spokane, WA, the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY and the Quad-City Times Bix 7 in Davenport, IA, and the 2024-25 PRRO Circuit offers more than $340,000 in guaranteed prize money overall with $97,600 for U.S. athletes. The PRRO Circuit, a nationwide series of premier non-marathon road racing events, is organized and promoted by the Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO), an alliance of race directors.
THE PRRO CIRCUIT 2024-25 SCHEDULE
Boilermaker 15K, July 14, 2024, Utica, NY
$65,100 in prize money ($14,500 U.S. prize money)
50th Quad-City Times Bix 7, July 27, 2024, Davenport, IA
$50,000 in prize money
Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile, April 6, 2025, Washington, DC
$80,600 in prize money ($48,600 U.S. prize money) plus performance bonuses
Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K, May 4, 2025, Spokane, WA
$81,000 in prize money ($20,000 U.S. prize money)
THE 28th PRRO CHAMPIONSHIP
Boilermaker 15K, July 13, 2025, Utica, NY
$65,100 in prize money ($14,500 U.S. prize money) as well as:
- $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus to eligible male or female (split if both eligible male and female win)
- $2500 to male and female non-eligible PRRO champions
- $1500 to eligible males and females finishing in places 2-10
Reigning PRRO champions Tebello Ramakongoana and Sarah Naibei, who won the 2024 PRRO Championship at the Lilac Bloomsday 12K on May 5, were the first two athletes to earn a chance to compete for the $20,000 PRRO Super Bonus. They will be joined by all the athletes who win one of the 2024-25 Circuit events listed above. Those qualified runners are also eligible for the PRRO Event Champion’s Bonus ($1500 cumulative for eligible athletes who do not win the PRRO Championship but do finish in places 2-10 at the PRRO Championship). Any athlete who wins the PRRO Super Bonus is not eligible for the PRRO Event Champion’s Bonus.
If the male and female winners of next summer’s PRRO Championship at Boilermaker have not won any of the events on the current Circuit, they will be awarded $2500 each as the PRRO Championship winners in addition to the prize money at the PRRO Championship event.
To-date, PRRO Circuit events have produced 17 world and 19 U.S. road records, awarded more than $8.4 million in prize money and seen more than 2.7 million runners cross their finish lines. In addition, since 1996, the PRRO Championship race has paid out more than $2.2 million including $188,500 in PRRO Championship bonus money.
PRRO Championship and Circuit Year
The PRRO Circuit, launched in 1995, starts and finishes the Circuit Year at the same event that will also host the season-ending PRRO Championship race. The reigning titlists of the PRRO Championship and the event winners on the current Circuit are eligible to compete for the PRRO Super Bonus at the PRRO Championship.
