St. Paul resident Gwen Jorgensen, who won the Olympic women's triathlon gold medal in Rio this summer, headlines the 35th anniversary Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend kicking off Friday morning with the opening of the Health & Fitness Expo at the Saint Paul RiverCentre
Jorgensen, who plans to make her marathon debut later this fall in New York, will compete in the Medtronic TC 10 Mile, which hosts the USATF Men’s & Women’s 10 Mile Championships for the second straight year.
Other notable elite athletes competing on marathon weekend include defending Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon men’s and women’s champions Dominic Ondoro of Kenya and Serkalem Abrha of Ethiopia.
The 27 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Charter Club members – 26 runners and one wheeler who have finished all 34 Twin Cities Marathons since 1982 will attempt to continue their streaks. 1992 Olympic men’s figure skating silver medalist Paul Wylie, as the honorary captain, will join the 2016 Global Hero team.
Marathon Weekend kicks off at 11:00 a.m. on Friday with opening of the Health & Fitness Expo at Saint Paul RiverCentre. The expo, which runs through Saturday evening features more than 100 exhibitors, a full schedule of free presentations, and packet pick up for the weekend’s races.
30,000 people are expected to participate in running events held Saturday and Sunday. Saturday events at the Capitol grounds in St. Paul include a 10K and 5K.
The Medtronic TC 10 Mile, known as the Shortcut to the Capitol®, starts in downtown Minneapolis and kicks off the Sunday races at 6:53 a.m. The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon follows at 7:55 a.m.
.
.
Olympic Gold Medalist @gwenjorgensen will run the #tc10mile this weekend. We look forward to watching her compete on Sunday morning! pic.twitter.com/HeJLQ1mBK6
— TwinCities In Motion (@tcmarathon) October 3, 2016
