Monica Hostetler runs Standard Federal 10K , Auburn Hills
Photo of Keith (l) and Kevin Hanson by Carter Sherline / Frog Prince Studios

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (Sept. 13 2003)-- Standard Federal Bank 10k in Auburn Hills brought together young, old, fast and slow to run the last and hilliest race of the Standard Federal Bank 10k series.

The course in Auburn Hills takes runners up and down several steep hills providing quite a challenge for even the fastest of runners. The fastest runner Saturday was former NCAA champion Boaz Cheboiywo, 26, of Ypsilanti, who covered the 10k distance in 29 minutes, 5 seconds.

It was a wave of red, yellow and black as members of The Hansons- Brooks Distance Project followed Cheboiywo across the finish line. Always easily visible in their multi- colored uniforms, The Distance Project placed seven runners in the top ten. Brian Sell, 25, was The Project's top finisher in second place.

Of special note this year was the women's race, which featured the debut of The Distance Project's women's program. Monica Hostetler, the first woman to officially join the team finished third Saturday, in 35:47. Denisa Costescu, 30, of Novi, won the race in 35:10.

Hostetler said Saturday was not a great race for her, but that she had not raced in a while.

"I still have to get used to pace," Hostetler said. "We're using this race as a baseline for making a race plan for the fall."

Hostetler, who joined The Distance Project three weeks ago, said she loves the environment.

"It's great and there are such awesome places to run," Hostetler said. "I definitely think I made the right decision to come up here."

Keith and Kevin Hanson coach the men and women of The Distance Project and both said they were excited to get the women's program up and running, literally.

"It was a real solid start," Keith Hanson said. "Monica's just been getting into things and it was a real good performance for where she's at in her training."

Hanson said he was also pleased with the men because he was not quite sure how things would go since the group is split up right now training for different distances.

"We've got two groups right now," Hanson said. "One group is focused on getting ready for the Chicago Marathon and the second group is in the very early stages of the cross country season."

Mike Fox, who finished fifth Saturday, is one of those athletes training for Chicago. Fox said Saturday's race served a couple of different purposes.

"This race kind of breaks up the training so you're not just going through the motions," Fox said. "It also gives you a checkpoint to see where you are at in your training."

Fox said everyone training for Chicago is aiming to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials. To qualify they must run the marathon under 2 hours, 22 minutes.

The Distance Project already has seven athletes qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials in February and has seven more attempting to qualify at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in four weeks. The possibility of having more than a dozen athletes toe the line at the Trials is exciting for the Hanson brothers.

"We always knew that the athletes we had coming into The Project would be able to qualify, but it's a pleasant surprise that it's grown to the numbers it has," Hanson said.