PROVIDENCE – There was an awful lot of green standing atop the medals podium at the 20th annual CVS Caremark Downtown 5K on Sunday afternoon.

It had nothing to do with the thousands of dollars in prize money that was on the line, or even with the fact that most of the race's founders are from Ireland.

It did, however, have everything to do with the Oregon Track Club, which produced both the men's and women's winners here.

Teammates Matt Tegenkamp and Amy Yoder-Begley proudly stood side by side in their Kelly green racing singlets after taking top honors at the Providence race, which once again served as both the men's and women's U.S. National 5K Championships.

"We've got an unbelievable group of talent out there," said Tegenkamp, 27, who won the U.S. Outdoor 5,000-meter title earlier this summer and then secured his first road title at that distance with Sunday's winning time of 13 minutes, 57 seconds. "It's a Who's Who of American distance running, and that's why you go to Portland –– to train together, improve each other and get on the medals stand in the major championships for track."

"It's fun to represent the Oregon Track Club, especially with Matt and I both winning," Yoder-Begley said following her victory, accomplished in 15:27.

The CVS Caremark Downtown 5K –– which enjoyed a record turnout with more than 10,000 entrants combined in all of its adult and youth running events –– provided the perfect backdrop for yet another title, added Yoder-Begley, who also won the USA 10,000-meter outdoor, USA 3,000-meter indoor and USA 15K crowns this year.

"Providence is a beautiful city, especially with WaterFire," said the 2008 U.S. Olympian, who spent Saturday night dining with her parents and taking in WaterFire along the city's rivers. "It's got everything you could want, so I love coming to Providence and enjoying the city."

Tegenkamp, too, will leave the Ocean State with fond memories. He was feeling considerably better about Sunday's performance than last year's, when he was outkicked down the stretch by fellow American Anthony Famiglietti.

Armed with what he described as "a new level of confidence" after becoming only the fourth American to break the 13-minute mark (12:58:56) at a meet in Belgium this month, Tegenkamp this time got the better of Famiglietti, and the rest of the field. Sitting back in a rather large lead pack for the majority of the race, Tegenkamp waited until Canal Street to begin moving to the front.

With Famiglietti sitting on his right shoulder and Bolota Asmerom on his left, he made the right turn onto Francis Street from Memorial Boulevard and charged up the hill, pulling away from the others.

"I was a rookie last year, learned a lot in that race and came back and executed the appropriate race plan," said Tegenkamp, who finished one second ahead of Asmerom and two seconds ahead of Famiglietti. "This year I knew … you've just got to conserve for the finish because that hill takes a ton out of you real quick."

"Matt's a really smart racer," said Famiglietti, "where he'll hang in the back and let other people make their moves and then wait for the last possible second and then make his move when it's too late to cover his move. And that's what happened."

Yoder-Begley said she also kept Francis Street in the back of her mind when she took the starting line, remembering from her last two trips here that it would lend itself to a very fast downhill start in addition to that challenging uphill finish

"I knew that my competition would be Jenn Rhines and Mary Cullen, Molly Huddle, Rebecca Donaghue and a couple of the foreign athletes, so I just went out with them and tried to take the lead with about 800 meters to go," said Yoder-Begley, adding that she has been learning how to more effectively "sit and kick" in her training with coach Alberto Salazar. "I just tried to run as hard as I could that last 800 meters and hoped it was enough. And today it was."

Donaghue, a native of Stowe, Mass. and graduate of the University of Massachusetts, placed second in 15:30, a personal best for the 32-year-old, both on the track and on the road.

Rhines, a three-time Olympian for 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and the marathon, followed her in third place in 15:31.

cthorn@projo.com