OREANDA-NEWS. The March 29, 2015 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle will host its seventh annual Elite Club 8K Competition, featuring men’s and women’s USATF-member racing teams from across the country vying for a \\$20,000 prize purse.

Last year’s competition attracted more than 200 national and local elite runners from nine states and more than 40 clubs.

For the third year in a row, runners from the Michigan-based Hansons-Brooks Distance Project won both the men’s and women’s elite individual titles, but the Playmakers Elite from Lansing, Mich., stole the show on the men’s side, outpacing a competitive field and winning the team title. The Hansons-Brooks Distance project captured the women’s title, led by overall first-place finisher, Katie Kellner.

“The Elite Club Competition continues the event’s tradition of hosting some of the nation’s best runners on the flat and fast streets of downtown Chicago,” said Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski. “Hosting the Club Competition gives us a unique opportunity to foster a competitive spirit among our top runners, and to thank our national running clubs for supporting the development of U.S. distance runners. Our clubs do so much in the running community at both the elite and non-elite levels, and it is important that they continue to thrive.”

The Elite Club 8K Competition is open to all USATF-member running clubs whose members meet the event-required qualifying standards.