Nike and flrunners.com are partnering again this year to bring you the FLRUNNERS.COM INVITATIONAL 11 PRESENTED BY NIKE. We are excited to renew our vow to bring you a high-quality meet that is among the largest, more competitive, and well-run cross country meets in the country. In the 11-year history of the meet we have always tried to up the ante year-after-year and bring you an event that is more than just another race on your calendar. We hope it will be the one you circle going into the season and look back on fondly for years to come!
As part of that announcement, we are pumped to be able to finally tell you that our special guest this year will be newly-minted American 10K record-holder and Nike athlete CHRIS SOLINKSY.
Back in May, Chris debuted professionally in the 10,000 Meters and set an American Record by 14 seconds by going 26:59.60 and becoming the first non-African to ever go under 27-minutes. Since that time, he has been on a tear this summer bettering his times in the 5000 Meters with a 12:56.66 in June and a 12:55.53 in August (just a second off the American 5K Record).
Solinsky is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and earned five NCAA titles while there. He has other PRs of 3:37.27 in the 1500, 3:54.1 in the Mile, and 7:36.90 in the 3K.
Chris will be hanging out, signing autographs, and speaking on Friday evening (October 1). He will join us in the morning on Saturday (October 2) to be the official starter for the Race of Champions and help us hand out awards at the 11:00 awards ceremony and pose for pictures. Solinsky will also be a judge in the Nike Dance Off competitions!
Apart from that exciting news, we have our new official logo. This is probably our "hippest" logo that we ever use (or whatever the kids say for hip/cool now a days... I'm 29 so I'm out of the loop I guess! Let me know in the comments). It is really kind of edgey and nothing like what we've ever done, so we're excited about that.Our t-shirt colors this year are going to be: Gorge Green (Forest Green), Midwest Gold (Yellowish), Team Crimson (Dark Red), and White--gotta love those color names! And also they will be high-quality official Nike brand t-shirts rather than Hanes or whatever else you're used to. The price won't go up any though, it will stay at $15.
We will be doing chip timing again this year, this time around we'll be using ChampionChip in partnership with MyLaps and Steeple Timing. Titusville High School is again our wonderful host school supplying support, race ambassadors to welcome you to the event and show you around, parking staff, and other meet officials. Our core organizing crew of myself (Jason Byrne), Marty Winkel, Jeff Kramer, and Terry Hayden have been hard at work for months now! Thanks also to Bill Canfield and Astronaut High School for sharing the venue and supplies with us.
It's going to be another great year! I hope you all can make it!! It will be a really great experience for you, your kids, and your parents. This is what cross country in Florida is all about! See you there!
ENTER ONLINE NOW - 130 spots already gone.
Registration is now open. 130 teams have already entered. This is one of the biggest numbers we've ever had this early, so we may fill up. Don't wait too long to enter!
