Syracuse Festival of Races Adds Open Prize
Money
Individuals and Teams Will Be Vying for
$16,000

Syracuse, NY–When the starting
gun sounds for the Bankers Healthcare Group Men’s 5K and the MVP Health Care®
Women’s 5K at the 22nd annual Syracuse Festival of Races (SFoR) on Sunday,
October 5, top individuals and teams will be competing for a total of $16,000,
the largest cash prize structure ever offered by a Sryacuse-are road racing
event.

“We‰Ûªre thrilled to have become the perennial home
of the USA Masters 5 km Championship,” says Dave Oja, SFoR founder and event
director.  “And‰ÛÓthanks to the support of Bankers Healthcare Group and MVP
Health Care®‰ÛÓour 5K races are able to add an additional $4,000 in targeted
support for upstate New York‰Ûªs most talented developing athletes and club
teams.”

The $4,000 in guaranteed open prize money will be
evenly divided between the two 5K races, with the top five individual finishers
in each race receiving $500, $400, $300, $200, and $100, respectively.  The
winning men‰Ûªs and women‰Ûªs club teams will each receive $300, with the runner-up
teams each being awarded $200.

In addition to the guaranteed open prize money,
the Syracuse Festival of Races is offering a $1,000 bonus for the winning
athlete who sets a new men‰Ûªs or women‰Ûªs course record.  The current SFoR
course records are 13:27 for men (set by John Itati, of Kenya, in 2002), and
15:36 for women (set by Anne Hare, of New Zealand, in 1994).

The SFoR will continue to offer a pair of $250
awards for the fastest CNY finishers.  The John Trowse Award, presented
annually since 2005 by Allied Sign Company in memory of the former outstanding
area runner, will recognize the top CNY male finisher.  The Cohen &
Cohen Award, presented by Cohen & Cohen, LLP, will recognize the top CNY
female finisher.

In addition to the $16,000 prize money the
SFoR will be awarding a total of $2,520 in Dick’s Sporting Goods Bonus
Certificates to the fastest three finishers in each of 29 age and gender
categories and the first male and female overall.

As another way of supporting the area‰Ûªs developing
post-collegiate athletes, the SFoR has long offered complimentary race entry to
any individual who has been the first overall male finisher or first overall
female finisher in a 2014 road race with 250 or more finishers.

Along with its separate 5K races for males and females, the
Syracuse Festival of Races includes the enormously popular 3K Fun & Fitness
Run, and the non-profit-centered Tops Friendly Markets Community Walk.  The
four events of the SFoR‰Ûªs 22^nd edition are expected to attract
approximately 3,000 participants and help to raise thousands of dollars for
various participating non-profit organizations.

Additional information as well as registration links and entry
forms for the Syracuse Festival of Races can be found at
www.festivalofraces.com

Major support for the 2014 Syracuse Festival of Races is
provided by: Bankers Healthcare Group; MVP Health Care; Tops Friendly Markets;
Nationwide Insurance; USA Track & Field; the Syracuse Chargers Track Club,
Inc.; Dick‰Ûªs Sporting Goods; Time Warner Cable News; and Cumulus Media of
Syracuse.