US Marathon Championships Favorites Named for Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon

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. The USA Women’s Championship 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.