FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Four USA Championships at Stake at Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
$25,000 Prizes Await Men's and Women's Marathon Winners
St. Paul, Minn. - October 1, 2014 - Marathoners will race from Minneapolis
to St. Paul on Sunday with four USA Championships at stake as Sunday's 33rd
annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon plays host to the USA Men's & Women's
Marathon Championships and the USA Masters Marathon Championships for
runners 40 and older.
Competitors in the USA Men's & Women's Championships will be racing for
$145,000 in prize money, including $25,000 for the winners, plus 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.
The professional men's field is headlined by 2010 Medtronic Twin Cities
Marathon champion Sergio Reyes (Palmdale, Calif.) who earned a USA title
with his victory. Reyes finished 4th in last year's event in a personal
best 2:13:34. Likely challengers to Reyes include Ian Burrell (Colorado
Springs, Colo.) who has run 2:13:27 for the marathon, Sean Quigley
(Concord, Mass.) the USA 7 Mile champion and a 2:14:12 marathoner, Tyler
McCandless (Boulder, Colo.) who has run 2:16:46, and marathon debutante
Tyler Pennel (Blowing Rock, N.C.) the USA 10K runner-up who sports a
1:01:44 half marathon best.
In the competition for the USA Women's Championship, 2012 Medtronic Twin
Cities Marathon champion Jeannette Faber returns to the scene of her
biggest sporting success. Also challenging for the USA title are Esther Erb
(Richmond, Va.) the 3rd-place finisher last year who sports a 2:33:15
personal best, Team USA Minnesota's Meghan Peyton (Richfield, Minn.) the
2013 USA 20K champion and the 9th-place finisher last year in 2:38:58,
Brianne Nelson (Golden, Colo.) the USA 10 Mile runner-up in 2013, and
Ariana Hilborn (Tempe, Aiz.) a 2:37:28 marathoner.
In the USA Master Championships, which Twin Cities In Motion is hosting for
the 24th straight year and where winners will earn $7,500 for their
efforts, defending men's champion Mbarak Hussein (Albuquerque, N.M),
history's only four-time USA Men's Masters champion, returns. The two-time
Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon champion expects to battle Kevin Castille
(Lafayette, La.) last year's masters runner-up, Uli Steidl (Seattle, Wash.)
the 2012 USA Masters champion, and Michael Wardian (Alexandria, Va.) a
decorated ultra-marathoner.
Among the masters women, defending master champion and two-time USA Masters
champion Sheri Piers (Falmouth, Maine) will race Joanna Zeiger (Boulder,
Colo.), an Olympian in the triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Games, and Wendi
Ray (Sister Bay, Wisc.), last year's women's masters runner-up.
Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend kicks off on Friday with the Health
& Fitness Expo at RiverCentre in St. Paul. Activities continue on Saturday
with the TC 10K, presented by Sprint, the TC 5K Run/Walk, presented by
Fredrikson & Byron, and the Medtronic TC Family Events, all held on the
State Capitol grounds in St. Paul. The weekend culminates with the 16th
running of the Medtronic TC 10 Mile and the 33rd annual Medtronic Twin
Cities Marathon on Sunday.
About Twin Cities In Motion (TCM): Twin Cities In Motion organizes the
region's premier running events, including the Medtronic Twin Cities
Marathon, a Top 10 U.S. Marathon. With a mission of promoting healthy
lifestyles through running events and community outreach, TCM contributes a
portion of every race dollar to local youth and professional athletes and
helps raise more than $800,000 annually with its charity partners. For more
information, visit us at tcmevents.org, or find us on Facebook and on
Twitter @tcmarathon.
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