WASHINGTON, D.C., April 06 — “I didn’t even know what the record was coming in,” said Taylor Roe, after her record-busting win in the USATF 10 Mile, held as part of the annual Cherry Blossom race.
The Oklahoma State alum, still in her rookie year of road racing, became the first American woman to break 50:00 for the distance with her 49:53. The mark is a World Record for a women-only race, beating Kenyan Evaline Chirchir’s 50:32 from ’19.
Roe ran with the lead pack through the first 5K in 15:33, then gradually pulled away for a 20+-second lead at 10K (30:56). She started her drive after talking briefly with coach Alistair Craig at 4M. “There was a point I committed to a pace. I just had to commit to it, believe in it,” she said.
The 30:56 is a women-only American Record for 10K. A 15:28 for the next 5K gave her another AR, her 46:24 slicing 6 seconds off Weini Kelati’s split from the Houston Half-Marathon. Her 49:53 at the finish broke Kelati’s American Record of 50:05 and won by more than a minute. Emma Grace Hurley was 2nd in 51:04 and Fiona O’Keeffe took 3rd at 51:49.
“I’m new to the roads stuff,” said Roe, “I’m new to the professional scene, so every time I go out it’s a learning experience… Today, honestly, the goal was to get more comfortable with the roads and… I’m starting to realize that, like, ‘Shoot, I kinda like this stuff a little bit.’”
The men’s race went to Charles Hicks, a past NCAA cross country champion for Stanford. He followed the lead of Alex Maier before outkicking him in the final 800 to win, 45:14–45:15. A dual citizen with Great Britain, Hicks was allowed to race because it wasn’t a national team selection event. He took away the $10,000 prize for 1st, but Maier got the record bonus for breaking Connor Mantz’s AR by a second.
“I was fit, ready to rip,” said Hicks, who now trains under Jerry Schumacher and is in the process of switching his allegiance under WA rules to the USA (by mid-’26, he hopes).
