As you all know by this point, the Midwest Festival was not held in 2014 due to conflicts in scheduling with the New Balance National Meet and the adidas Grand Prix. During the time when I announced that the meet would be cancelled in December until yesterday, I was able to think about where I wanted to see the meet go.

I came to the conclusion yesterday that if the meet is to continue to grow, it would have to be with someone else directing the meet other than me. Even though that the Midwest Distance Festival means so much to me, I think for the best interest of a post season distance meet in Illinois needs a different direction and someone new to direct it.

I will not be involved with the Midwest Distance Festival next year or in the near future. I know this meet and the meet before it, the Midwest Distance Gala, meant so much to the running community in Illinois. I made the announcement today to give anyone time to decide to run a distance meet and a year to prepare for it.

I would like to thank all the volunteers that sacrificed their time to make the meet a success in 2012 and 2013. It meant so much to me that you were able to help with the meet. I will be forever in your debt. Thanks to Benedictine University for allowing us to hold the meet in 2013. I hope that whomever decides to run this meet will consider the track facility at Benedictine.

Thank you all for the support of the meet. I would hope that you would support the next person that decides to take on this huge task of growing this meet.

Thanks again.

Michael Newman

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