FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mbarak Hussein and Sheri Piers Return to Defend USA Masters Marathon Titles

Wheeler Champions to Defend Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Titles

St. Paul, Minn. September 10, 2014 Mbarak Hussein of Albuquerque, N.M., a two-time Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon champion and the winner of a record four USA Masters Marathon titles, and two-time USA Masters Marathon womens champion Sheri Piers of Falmouth, Maine will return to defend their crowns on October 5 when the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon hosts the USA Masters Marathon Championships for the 24^th straight year.

A prize purse topping $65,000 is on offer to marathoners 40 years old and over, including a winners check for $7,500 for the mens and womens masters champions. Masters runners as old as 86 years old will be competing in the event which offers age-group and age-graded awards and prize money.

Last year, at age 48, Hussein won an unprecedented fourth USA Masters Marathon crown in 2:20:20. The naturalized United States citizen originally from Kenya won the 2005 and 2006 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathons as a masters runner and added his third USA Masters crown in 2010. Piers, the 2011 USA Master Marathon champ, regained the crown last year after losing it by just two seconds in 2012 to Nuta Alaru.

The marathon field will also be graced by its defending wheeler champions: mens winner Josh George of Champaign, Ill. and course record holder Susannah Scaroni of Urbana, Ill. The pair won their first-ever Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon titles last year, with Scaroni topping the events 17-year-old womens record with a 1:54:37 clocking.

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend kicks off on Friday, October 3 with the Health & Fitness Expo at RiverCentre in St. Paul. Activities continue on Saturday, October 4 with the TC 10K, presented by Sprint, the TC 5K Run/Walk, presented by Fredrikson & Byron, and the Medtronic TC Family Events, all held on the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul. The weekend culminates with the 16th running of the Medtronic TC 10 Mile and the 33rd annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, October 5.