FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Four Olympians, Defending Champions to Battle for Equalizer Bonus
Record-Holders Abdirahman, Goucher Return to Medtronic TC 10 Mile
Four American Olympians fresh off their efforts at this summer's London
Games will race for USA Men's and Women's 10 Mile Championships on October
7 at the Medtronic TC 10 Mile, held in conjunction with the Medtronic Twin
Cities Marathon.
Duluth native Kara Goucher, the Medtronic TC 10 Mile women's record holder,
will be joined by fellow Olympians Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, the 2011
Medtronic TC 10 Mile women's champion, Julie Culley, last year's Medtronic
TC 10 Mile women's runner-up and Abdi Abdirahman, a two-time Medtronic TC
10 Mile champion and the men's course record holder.
The Olympians won't just be competing for titles among their own gender.
Again this year, the Medtronic TC 10 Mile will feature a $10,000 Equalizer
Bonus for the first USA Champion – male or female – to cross the State
Capitol grounds finish line. Last year, men's champion Mo Trafeh, who
returns this year, caught Cherobon-Bawcom in the final mile of the race.
Cherobon-Bawcom and the rest of the women's field started with a
seven-minute head-start.
"We're elated that four athletes who represented the USA in London are
coming to the Twin Cities to compete for USA titles with us," Twin Cities
In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman said. "They, Mo Trafeh
and the rest of the field are going to produce an exciting race and some
well-earned national titles."
Goucher, who grew up in Duluth and currently resides in Portland, Ore.,
finished 11th in the Olympic women's marathon in London, running 2:26:07.
The 2007 World Track & Field Championships bronze medalist at 10,000-meters
won the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in 2008, setting the course record of 53:16 in
the process.
Cherobon-Bawcom, a Rome, Ga. resident, finished 12th in the women's
10,000-meters at the London Games, running a personal best 31:12.68. The
Kenyan-born, naturalized American citizen won last year's USA Women's 10
Mile title in her first visit to the event, clocking 54:15 on the
challenging route from downtown Minneapolis to St. Paul.
Culley, of New Brunswick, N.J., finished 14th in the final of the women's
5,000-meters in London in 15:28.22. Culley qualified for the Olympics by
winning the Olympic Trials 5000-meters in Eugene, Ore. in 15:13.77. Last
year at the Medtronic TC 10 Mile, Culley clocked 54:28 as the women's
runner-up.
Abdirahman, who has represented the United States in four straight Olympic
Games, was unable to finish the Olympic marathon this summer due to a knee
injury. The Tucson, Ariz. resident, returns to the Medtronic TC 10 Mile
seeking his third USA 10 Mile title at the event and his fifth overall.
Last year, the Somali-born American finished sixth in 47:00. He ran 46:35
when he set the event record in 2009.
Twin Cities In Motion will announce the complete professional athlete field
for the USA Men's and Women's 10 Mile Championships during the first week
of October.
About Twin Cities In Motion Twin Cities In Motion (formerly Twin Cities
Marathon, Inc.) is the non-profit organization that organizes running
events throughout the year, including the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon,
as a community service for the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Visit
www.tcmevents.org www.facebook.com/TwinCitiesInMotion, and follow us on
Twitter @tcmarathon.
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