Sunday's Minnesota Mile Announces Elite Field

The elite field for Sunday’s Minnesota Mile in downtown Duluth is set. Among those entered are defending champions Craig Miller (4 minutes, 1.4 seconds) and Heather Kampf (4:36.5). They will be racing in an elite division that features a $20,100 prize purse with the men’s and women’s winners each receiving $3,000. Both Miller and Kampf are the 2012 USA 1 Mile Road national champions.

Miller – also the Minnesota Mile champion in 2011 (4:03.8) – was the 2013 USA Indoor Mile runner-up (3:58.90 - March 3, Albuquerque) and won the 2013 Big River Festival of Miles (3:59.23 – May 30, St. Louis).

Also in the men’s field is former University of Minnesota standout and Stillwater, Minn. native Ben Blankenship, who won of a pair of mile races last month (3:56.27, Falmouth Mile – Falmouth, Mass./4:06, Michigan Mile – Flint, Mich.). Two-time 1500-meter Olympian (Canada, 2008 and 2012) Nate Brannen will make his first appearance at the Minnesota Mile.

Kampf has won numerous mile races in 2013, including the Bermuda Mile, the Ryan Shay Mile, the Liberty Mile and the Michigan Mile. She’ll be joined in the women’s division by Team USA Minnesota teammates Gabriele Anderson and Jamie Cheever. Anderson has placed in the top five at the past three Minnesota Mile races, including a second-place finish a year ago (4:37.5). Cheever was sixth in 2012 (4:44.1). All three ran collegiately at the University of Minnesota.

Making her debut at the mile distance is Kenya’s Sarah Kiptoo, who won the 2013 Grandma’s Marathon on June 22 in a course record time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 32 seconds.

The races begin one block east of Fitger’s on Superior Street and finish past the Holiday Center. In addition to the elite race, the event includes races for children, recreational and semi-elite runners.

The Minnesota Mile is the 14^th stop on the nationwide inaugural Bring Back the Mile Tour 2013. For more on the Bring Back the Mile Tour, visit www.bringbackthemile.com.