STEPPING UP IN DISTANCE, HUNTER TO RACE CHERRY BLOSSOM 10-MILE ON SUNDAY

STEPPING UP IN DISTANCE, HUNTER TO RACE CHERRY BLOSSOM 10-MILE ON SUNDAY
By David Monti, @d9monti.bsky.social
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission. 

(03-Apr) — Coming off of a year where he set personal bests from 1500m to 10,000m, two-time USATF national champion Drew Hunter will run the longest race of his career on Sunday, the 52nd edition of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile in Washington, D.C.  Hunter, 27, who lives in Boulder, Colo., but grew up in nearby Virginia, will also be competing in the USATF 10-Mile Championships, the race-within-the-race at the Cherry Blossom, where he hopes to beat national road running champions like Hillary Bor, Biya Simbassa, Leonard Korir, Shadrack Kipchirchir, and Alex Maier.

“I feel like every year I put a race on the calendar that’s a challenge for me, but also just something different,” Hunter told Race Results Weekly in a telephone interview from Boulder on Tuesday.  “Last year that happened to be a track 10-K.  I’d never done one; I’d focused on the 1500 most of my career.  I was just like, this is going to be hard, challenging, but it’s something new.  I think it’s really important for us athletes to just stay inspired by our running.”

Hunter will face an extra challenge in Sunday’s race.  He’s still recovering from the 10,000m personal best he ran at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., last Saturday night where he finished 11th (fourth American) in 27:24.49.  Coached by his mother, Joan, the 2021 USATF 5-K road running champion has been getting ready for this two-race peak since he started his winter training.

“Cherry Blossom fit in really well with my schedule,” Hunter continued.  “The 10-K was the priority, so I could run the 10-K and still race Cherry Blossom.  I think the 10-mile will be a good distance for me.”  He added: “I really wanted to hit the 10-K hard, then race the Cherry Blossom and see what I can do.  It’s a little freeing, not doing a 10-miler before.  It’s my longest race, ever.  Expectations are low, and that’s sort of fun for me.”

Although Hunter founded the adidas-backed Tinman Elite program in Boulder, he is no longer an official member of that group since his eight-year sponsorship with adidas lapsed at the end of 2024 and he signed a new four-year contract with Asics.  Still, Hunter does some of his training with the Tinman group which is evolving into a marathon-focused team.  That’s been particularly helpful for his build-up for these two longer races.

“I train a lot with (Tinman’s) Reed Fischer and he’s run really well over that distance,” Hunter explained.  “So, I’m very, sort of like, intrigued to see what I can actually do.”

Hunter –who turned pro right out of high school in 2016 after initially deciding he was going to enter the NCAA system at the University of Oregon– has focused his career mostly on middle distance running.  He beat Alan Webb’s national high school indoor mile record in 2016, running 3:58.25 (his first sub-four mile) then ran 3:57.81 later that season.  He eventually lowered his mile time to 3:54.80 in 2022, and last year ran a snappy 3:33.78 for 1500m.

Hunter stressed that running two long-distance races two weekends in a row doesn’t signal a move away from the track or the mile.  Instead, he said, he hopes that this phase of his training, which included an 18-mile long run, will make him a better all-around runner.

“I just have to get strong,” Hunter admitted.  “Racing an over-distance race is really good for me to do.  Just in training, just for the preparation I’ve done for it, will set me up for a great track season.”  He added: “I can really be solid in anything I put my mind to.”

Hunter’s 2024 track season was short, but impactful.  After making USA Olympic Team Trials qualifying marks for both 5000m and 10,000m, Hunter decided to focus all of his energy on running the 10,000m.  He saw an opening for one team spot assuming that Grant Fisher and Woody Kincaid would take the top-two spots (they did).  Near the end of the race, Hunter came close to beating former Northern Arizona star Nico Young; Young only beat Hunter by .95 seconds.

Hunter recounted how his mother helped prepare him for one mighty peak at the Trials.

“I think I can show up at the Olympic Trials and have my very best race of the year be at the Olympic Trials,” Hunter recalled thinking a year ago.  “While under pressure, I think a lot of the other guys will be cooked, they’ll be tired, I think they’ll be training-through.  I think I can run really well, and my Mom developed a program for me that would have me ready then.  It took a leap of faith –like I didn’t run amazingly in some of my earlier races, like U.S. cross country (he finished ninth), and some other things– but I ran my best race of the year at the Olympic Trials when it mattered the most.”

Hunter has been a pro for almost a decade, and his recent switch of sponsors –and having a second daughter with his wife Sandy last September– gave him a chance to reflect on his career, both on the field of play and off.  He has surprised himself, he said.

“I did a lot of things in my running career I never thought I would do,” said Hunter.  “I started a team, I made a shoe with a company, I sold millions of dollars of gear.  Those are things –they’re not running goals– but they’re things I’m very proud of that I accomplished in my career.  So, I think that my path is my path, and my journey is not over with yet.  This new contract with Asics, the excitement about future races, I really feel like I have a lot more to give.”

On Sunday in Washington, where Hunter said he’ll be racing in the Asics Metaspeed Edge, he’ll have a lot of support throughout the weekend.  Growing up in Loudoun County, just a one-hour drive northwest from central Washington, he plans to see friends and family alike.  He will also be joining a Hunter family tradition of going to the Cherry Blossom, a race historically known as the “Runner’s Rite of Spring.”

“It’s a race that I’ve always wanted to do,” said Hunter.  “One of my first memories of running, actually, was my Dad took some Reston Road Runners to the Cherry Blossom when I was a little kid and I got to watch.  I grew up outside of Northern Virginia, so D.C. is very close to home for me.  All of my in-laws will get to watch me run.  Some of my friends from high school will get to come out and see me run.”  He added: “I’m excited to sort of go back home.  I’m actually spending some time with my family afterwards, some of my friends, and we’ll celebrate my sister’s birthday which is on the day of Cherry Blossom.”

– – – – – – –

The 52nd Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile will start near the Washington Monument with the elite women’s race at 7:18 a.m., followed by the elite men and masses at 7:30 (last year’s race had 17,856 finishers).  The race has an $80,600 prize money purse ($48,600 for the national championships), and is also part of the prestigious 2024/2025 Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO) Circuit.  The 28th PRRO Championship will be held at the Utica Boilermaker 15-K on Sunday, July 13, in Utica, N.Y.

ENDS

– – – – – – –

RACE RESULTS WEEKLY is sponsored by RunCzech, celebrating the 30th Prague Marathon and showcasing iconic running series like the SuperHalfs and Italy’s fastest half marathon, the Napoli City Half Marathon. Learn more at runczech.com.