FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Professional Headliners Announced for Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
$145,000 at stake in USA Men's & Women's Marathon Championships
St. Paul, Minn. - September 19, 2013 - Three naturalized American citizens
and a local favorite will headline the fields for the 2013 USA Men's and
Women's Marathon Championships held in conjunction with the Medtronic Twin
Cities Marathon on October 6.
Kenyan expatriates Shadrack Biwott (Eugene, Ore.) and Josphat Boit (Mammoth
Lakes, Calif.), who have found success this year at shorter USA
Championships distances, are favorites in the men's field that will race
from downtown Minneapolis to the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in the
race recognized as "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America®." The
competition will mark the eighth time the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
has hosted the USA Men's Marathon Championship.
The USA Women's Championship, which is making its seventh visit to the
event and eighth stop in the Twin Cities, features Romanian-born Adriana
Nelson (Boulder, Colo.), the winner of the USA Half Marathon Championship
in Duluth this June, and Team USA Minnesota's Meghan Peyton (Richfield),
who was the surprise victor at the USA 20K Championship in New Haven, Conn.
earlier this month.
Competitors in the USA Championships will be racing for $145,000 in prize
money, including $25,000 for the winners and an additional $25,000 course
record bonus should the men's champion break Phil Coppess's men's mark of
2:10:05 set in 1985 or the women's winner better the record shared by
Zinaida Semenova (2001) and Irina Permitina (2004) at 2:26:51.
"We're honored to host the USA Championships again and we're excited to see
how the races will play out," Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director
Virginia Brophy Achman said. "Offering developmental and racing
opportunities for American athletes is part of our mission at Twin Cities
In Motion. We're glad to partner with USA Track & Field in that effort."
In addition to the USA Marathon Championships, which the event will host
again in 2014, the race will host the USA Masters Marathon Championships,
the national championship for athletes 40 years old and older. This year
will mark the 23rd-straight year that the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
has played host to the USA Masters Championships.
Biwott, a graduate of the University of Oregon and a podium finisher at the
USA 10K, Half Marathon, and 20K Championship this year, appears ready to
improve upon his marathon personal best of 2:20:28 from 2011. Boit, a
University of Arkansas graduate and the runner-up at the 2013 USA 25K
Championship, sports a 2:15:40 marathon best from 2011.
Nelson, a former Romanian national champion who won the 2013 USA Half
Marathon title in 1:11:19, has a marathon best of 2:28:52 from 2008.
Peyton, a University of Iowa alumnus whose only marathon experience was at
the 2012 Olympic Trials where she did not finish, won her USA 20K title in
1:09:57. The full professional field for Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon -
including USA and USA Masters Championships competitors -- will be
announced on race week.
Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend kicks off on Friday, October 4 with
the Health & Fitness Expo at RiverCentre in St. Paul. Activities continue
on Saturday, October 5 with the TC 10K, presented by TomTom, the TC 5K
Run/Walk, presented by Fredrikson & Byron, and the Medtronic TC Family, all
held on the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul. The weekend culminates with
the 15th running of the Medtronic TC 10 Mile and the 32nd annual Medtronic
Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, October 6.
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