Sunday’s Minnesota Mile in downtown Duluth elite division that features a $20,100 prize
purse with the men’s and women’s winners each receiving $3,000,
respectively.
The Minnesota Mile is the sixth and final stop on the inaugural Bring Back the Mile Grand Prix
Tour 2014. The total prize purse for the six Tour events exceeds $85,000 plus
$7,500 for the Grand Prix purse. Per Tour event, per gender, the top 6 will
score points (10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1) with the top 4 Grand Prix scorers earning GP
money ($2,000, $1,000, $500 and $250). Team USA Minnesota’s Heather
Kampf, “The Queen of the Road Mile,” has already secured the women’s BBTM GP
Tour title, but the other Grand Prix positions will be decided at the Minnesota
Mile.
Kampf, 27, of
Minneapolis, holds three of the top ten women’s times in Minnesota Mile history.
She claimed the title in 2012 (4 minutes, 36.5 seconds), and she placed second a
year ago behind the course-record-setting performance from Gabriele Grunewald.
Kampf’s set her best
mile mark of 4:21.39 on July 26 when she won at the Ryan Shay Mile.
The former University of Minnesota standout won numerous mile races in 2013,
including the Bermuda Mile, the Ryan Shay Mile, the Liberty Mile, and the
Michigan Mile. Kampf will be challenged in Sunday’s women’s division by Sarah
Brown (Solana Beach, Calif. – PR, 4:26.67) and Sara Vaughn (Boulder,
Colo. – PR, 4:29.8).
Brown, 27, set her
personal best time of 4:26.67 in winning Vancouver’s Harry Jerome Mile on July
10. She also won the 2013 TC 1 Mile in Minneapolis. Vaughn, 28, placed third
(4:38.9) at last year’s Minnesota Mile behind Grunewald and
Kampf.
On the men’s side,
the top two in the Bring Back the Mile Grand Prix Tour standings are registered
and are among the favorites. Rob Finnerty, 24, of Burnsville, Minn.,
leads Jack Bolas, 26, by two points entering Sunday’s final Tour
race.
In July, Finnerty won
the Ryan Shay Mile in a personal record 3:56.98. On Aug. 22, he placed third
(4:13) at the Michigan Mile, a race won by Bolas in 4:06.76. Bolas was third at
the 2013 Minnesota Mile in 3:53.5, his personal best. Both Finnerty and Bolas
ran for at the University of Wisconsin.
Other contenders
include 2012 1500-meter Olympian Ciaran O’Lionaird from Ireland (PR,
3:52.10) and Americans Miles Batty (Cedar Park, Texas – PR, 3:54.54),
Jake Edwards (Columbus, Ohio – PR, 3:58.09), Tommy Schmitz (Santa
Barbara, Calif. – PR, 3:56.45) and Kampf’s Team USA Minnesota teammate Eric
Finan (Minneapolis, Minn. – PR, 3:58.73).
Sunday’s 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
offers runners a unique opportunity for citizen runners to secure a spot in next
year’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, as 250 finishers will be randomly selected
to receive guaranteed entries into the 2015 half marathon on June
20.
Registration for all
divisions is conducted online at www.GrandmasMarathon.com. The
pre-registration entry fee is $20 and late registration (September 6 and 7) is
$30. The first 450 paid pre-registered entrants will receive a complimentary
pair of Fitsok performance socks.
Men's Elite Mile entrants:
Bib # PR
1 Jack
Bolas 26 3:53.5
2 Rob Finnerty 24 3:56.98
3 Ciaran
O’Lionaird 26 3:51.10
4 Miles
Batty 27 3:54.54
5 Tommy
Schmitz 31 3:56.45
6 Jacob
Edwards 26 3:58.09
7 Eric
Finan 25 3:58.73
8 Pat
Fullerton 25 3:58.8
9 Jonathan
Peterson 25 4:00.54
10 Tom
Scott 25 3:59.9
11 Richard
Kandie 29 3:53.70
12 Adam
Currie 29 4:04.94
13 Seth
Brickley 27 4:06.4
14 Aaron
Easker 23 4:08.01
15 Edward
Tabut 31 4:08.08
16 Sammy
Rotich 27 4:13.63
17 Ismael
Arzola 25 4:26.07
18 Tyler
Hinrichs 27 4:19.57
19 Charlie
Habermann 23 4:22.23
20 Elly
Sang 23 4:16.5
21 Lee
Willis 41 4.04.62
22 Joey
Keillor 40 4:13.3
23 Brandon
Hudgins 27 4:01.64
Women's Elite Mile entrants:
Bib # PR
31 Heather Kampf 27 4:21.39
32 Sarah
Brown 27 4:26.67
33 Sara
Vaughn 28 4:29.8
34 Christy
Cazzola 29 4:33.97
35 Jessica
Tebo 26 4:34.73
37 Neely
Spence Gracey 24 4:48.81
38 Dawn
Grunnagle 36 4:15.25 (1500m)
39 Ioana
Citireag 25 4:27.44 (1500m)
40 Doreen
Kitaka 30 4:46.7
41 Melissa
Burkart 32 4:58.22
42 Breeda
Willis 44 4:48.4
43 Katie
McGee 41 5:09
44 Genet
Gashie Beyene 19 4:41.52
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