UPDATE (March, 6, 2020): World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia to be postponed INDIANAPOLIS -- Team USATF announces the coaching and medical staff for the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships, to be contested March 29 in Gdynia, Poland. Staff selection selection procedures can be found here, and the full team roster will be announced in mid-March.
Jennifer Rhines - Women’s Head Coach
Jen Rhines is the Wellness Coach and Co-Founder of the Golden Coast Track Club, an elite middle & long distance running team located in San Diego, CA. She also works as an Adidas Global Endurance Coach and serves as an AKTIV Against Cancer ambassador. Aside from her work with the team she continues to train and compete at a high level in Master’s competitions. Rhines is currently the USATF Masters record holder in the 5,000m (track) and 12k (road). During her elite career, Rhines represented Team USATF at three Olympic Games and 15 World Championships. She attended Villanova University from 1992-1996 where she was a five-time NCAA champion. A native of Syracuse, New York, she now lives in San Diego, California with her husband, elite coach Terrence Mahon.
Blake Boldon - Men’s Head Coach
Blake Boldon currently serves as the director of the Drake Relays and the acting director of the Drake University track & field and cross country programs. He joined the Drake staff in October 2016 with a diverse background that includes success as a professional athlete, coach and event director. While at Drake he served as the meet director for the 2019 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championship and has directed the Grand Blue Mile, which in 2020 will serve as the USATF Road One-Mile Championship for the fourth consecutive year. Before joining the staff at Drake, Boldon was the director of the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Under his leadership, the event grew from the 60th largest marathon in the nation to the 20th. In addition to currently overseeing the Drake University track & field and cross country programs, Boldon has also enjoyed successful coaching tenures at Penn, UAB and Iowa State. Boldon, who was recently inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame, was a five-time Missouri Valley Conference champion who earned four top-10 finishes at USATF Championships as a professional athlete.
Chris Watson MEd, ATC, CSCS, CES - Head ATC
Chris Watson currently teaches sports medicine and exercise science at the Medina County Career Center and works PRN as an athletic trainer for Mercy Medical Center. Starting in August 2016 Watson was hired by the NFL to work as an ATC spotter at home games played at FirstEnergy Stadium. From 2003-2018 he served as the director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer at Malone University. Watson is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through the NSCA and a corrective exercise specialist (CES) through the NASM. Watson, his wife, Angela, and their three children Amber, Kalie, and Bryce, live in the City of Green, Ohio.
Ann Marie Letko - LMT
Anne Marie Letko is a board certified massage therapist, with 22 years of experience, who lives and practices in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She is a two-time U.S. Olympian, and represented Team USATF in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games (Marathon and 5000m respectively) along with multiple other World Championship track and field teams (Tokyo '91, Havana '92, Amorebieta-Etxano '93, Stuttgart '93, Goteborg '95, and Seville '99) in the 10,000m. Letko served Team USATF as the lead massage therapist on staff during last years' 2019 World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark.