Two-time Olympian wins Olympic Trials tune-up at USA 10 Mile Championship

ST. PAUL, MN - (October 7, 2007) - Abdi Abdirahman, the two-time Olympian from Tucson, Ariz., confirmed his status as a favorite for the upcoming U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials with a strong win at the USA Men's 10 Mile Championship held in conjunction with the Medtronic TC 10 Mile on Sunday morning.

Abdirahman, who won his third straight national 10 mile title and $10,000, clocked a course-record of 47 minutes, 34 seconds to out-last Minnesota favorite-son Jason Lehmkuhle, the national runner-up at 47:48. James Carney ran a well-paced effort to take third in 48:03.

Olympian Dan Browne, who won the 2002 Twin Cities Marathon over some of the same roads, finished 21st after running near the front through five miles.

The race was contested in unseasonably warm conditions and high humidity. The race started under 72 degree skies with 87% humidity and a 68 degree dew point.

Abdirahman, 30, admitted he felt the heat in his commanding performance.

"I didn't expect this to be this bad," the reigning USA 10,000 meter and 10K champ said. "It was horrible. It's one of those things, you can't control the weather. It's out of our hands. I was on good pace for five or six or seven miles but then it just got worse and worse."

After a careful first mile of 4:42 on the winding, redesigned miles of the route necessitated by the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in August and a not-as-fast-as-it-looks 4:31 down the steeply descending second mile, Abdirahman split the significantly climbing third mile in 4:34, putting ten meters between himself and Browne and Lehmkuhle in the process. Abdirahman followed the move with a 4:40 fourth mile and was clear by 50 meters when he hit 5 miles in 23:18.

"I don't like the downhills that much," Abdirahman said, "so I just wanted to be careful. That downhill's so fast. I figured I'm going to wait until the second or third mile. I love hills, I'm good at hills."

The heat or humidity or hills, though, took a toll from the Somali-born American. He ran the second half of the race a minute slower than the first, but was never threatened by the strong running Lehmkuhle.

As with Lehmkuhle and much of the rest of the field, Abdirahman couldn't help but look ahead to the marathon trials in New York City on Saturday, November 3 when he said, "I've just got to go back home and get ready for the big one!"

Kristen Nicolini, Lehmkuhle's wife, picked up the win in the women's non-championship race in 56:26.

9th Medtronic TC 10 Mile: USA Men's Championship
Minneapolis, MN, Sunday, October 7, 2007

1. Abdi Abdirahman (AZ), 47:34, $10,000
2. Jason Lehmkuhle (MN), 47:48, $6000
3. James Carney (CO), 48:03, $4000
4. Edwardo Torres (CO), 48:19, $2000
5. Matt Gonzales (NM), 48:43, $1000
6. Brett Gotcher (AZ), 48:50, $750
7. Mbarak Hussein (NM), 48:57, $500
8. Ryan Sheehan (MI), 48:58, $275
9. Jesus Solis (CO), 49:02, $250
10. Josh Moen (IA), 49:13, $225

Complete race results at: www.MTCMarathon.org