Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Best of the Midwest Invite Field Announced

Inaugural Race-within-a-Race Features Defending Marathon Champion

St. Paul, Minn., August 14, 2024 – On October 6, aspiring marathon athletes from across the Midwest will join the ranks of nationally and internationally competitive marathoners in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon as the event hosts the inaugural Best of the Midwest Invitational.

Joining the field of nine midwestern women is defending 2022 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon women’s champion, Jessica Watychowicz who hails from Burbank, Ill. and ran collegiately at the University of Wisconsin Parkside. Also challenging for top honors in the Best of the Midwest Invitational field will be Jane Bareikis, from Crestwood, Ill. and Molly Bookmeyer, from Columbus, Ohio.

Bookmeyer has a personal best of 2:30:16 from her third-place finish at this year’s Grandma’s Marathon, while Bareikis has a personal best of 2:29:00 in the 2023 BMW Berlin Marathon and a season’s best of 2:31:17 from her fourth-place finish at the 2024 Grandma’s Marathon.

The men’s field for the Best of the Midwest Invitational hosts a total of 13 men and will include local favorites Kevin Lewis of Minnesota Distance Elite, Danny Docherty, and Ben Olson. Lewis leads the local trio with a best of 2:12:02 from the 2020 Marathon Project race, while Docherty has a best of 2:15:55 from the 2019 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, where he finished third overall, and Olson will look to improve his 2023 personal best of 2:16:04.

Joining professional athletes from around the world, midwestern athletes accepted into the Best of the Midwest Invitational field will be featured in the “race within a race” and will compete for a dedicated prize purse totaling $20,000, in addition to being eligible for the overall professional prize purse worth $26,000 per gender.

To qualify for the Best of the Midwest Invitational, runners must demonstrate ties to at least one of twelve Midwest states. For more information on the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend, visit www.tcmevents.org.

2024 Best of the Midwest Invitational Fields

Twin Cities In Motion (TCM) is a community motion nonprofit and the region’s premier running event organizer. TCM believes a community that engages each other through movement, makes a healthier society both socially and physically. TCM is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit that organizes dozens of events throughout the year, including the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, a Top 10 U.S. marathon, to provide opportunities for people of all ages, abilities, and experiences to live an active, healthy lifestyle. Collectively, TCM and its charity partners that fundraise at TCM events regularly give back more than $1 million annually to a variety of causes. For more information, visit us at tcmevents.org, or find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @tcmarathon.