INDIANAPOLIS - Defending champions Mo Trafeh (Duarte, Calif.) and Janet Bawcom (Rome, Ga.) will face deep and talented fields at the 2012 USA 10 mile Championships hosted by the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday.

Trafeh will be joined by two-time defending USA 10 mile champion Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.), who also holds the championship record of 46:35 set in 2009. Abdirahman won the USA Half Marathon Championships in June and competed in London as a four-time Olympian, but was unable to finish the marathon due to injury.

Other men who will be challenging for the win include former 10,000m American record holder Chris Solinsky (Portland, Ore.), 2011 10 mile runner-up Ben True (Portland, Ore.) and Minneapolis local Andrew Carlson, who finished sixth at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon.

This will be Bawcom’s first race since the Olympic 10,000m final where she finished 12th in a personal best time of 31:12.68. Two other members of the Olympic team who will challenge for the win will be Julie Culley (Annadale, Md.), who finished 14th in the Olympic 5,000m final in 15:28.22, and Kara Goucher, who finished 11th in the marathon in 2:26:07. Other women to watch include Molly Pritz (Boulder, Colo.) and Lindsey Scherf (Fayettville, N.C.).

Live Coverage
Live text updates of the USA 10 Mile Championships will be available at www.USARunningCircuit.com beginning at 7:09 a.m. CT. Video of the race and post-race interviews will be available shortly after the race in cooperation with RunnerSpace.com.

About the USARC
The USA 10 mile Championships are the tenth stop on the 2012 USA Running Circuit (USARC), and will feature $30,000 in prize money. The USARC is a USA Track & Field road series, featuring USA Championships from one mile to the marathon and attracts the best U.S. distance runners. The 2012 circuit features nine events for men and ten for women.

The 2012 USARC features more than $900,000 in circuit prize money with U.S. athletes competing for the right to represent Team USA in various international competitions.

The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USARC race (15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1), with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6,000, $4,000, and $2,500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall.

The mission of the USA Running Circuit is to showcase, support, and promote U.S. runners.  Since its inception in 1995, the USARC and its races have provided over $6 million dollars to U.S. distance runners.

Masters Marathon Championships
The USA Masters Marathon Championships will also be held on Sunday in Minneapolis. Tracy Lokken and Sheri Piers finished as the top masters athletes in 2011 and will return to the Twin Cities to defend their titles. Other masters athletes of note include Olympian and 2011 World Championships team member Colleen De Reuck and Kevin Castille, who set a masters age-group American record in the 10,000m earlier this year. For a complete list of entrants, visit: http://usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2012/USA-Masters-Marathon-Championships/Declared-Athletes.aspx

For more information on the 2012 USA 10 Mile Championships and Masters Marathon Championships visit www.usatf.org.