Shalane Flanagan approaches the finish line in disbelief that she has won the 10,000m Olympic bronze medal (© Getty Images)
Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and Boston-area native Shalane Flanagan will headline the field for a new B.A.A. Invitational Mile on 19 April.
The Invitational Mile which is to be held in conjunction with the inaugural B.A.A. 5K the day before the 113th Boston Marathon will feature races for professional men and women, plus mile races for scholastic girls and boys from Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline and Boston - the eight cities and towns along the Boston Marathon course. The races, which will be run criterium-style in the Back Bay, will end at the Boston Marathon finish line.
The B.A.A. Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon, and is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
"The B.A.A. Invitational Mile is another event we're excited to add to race weekend this year," said Guy Morse, B.A.A. Executive Director. "It's a great opportunity to give the young athletes from our host cities and towns the chance to compete on the homestretch of the Boston Marathon course, and we're especially proud to carry on a B.A.A. tradition of hosting scholastic races. Add to that the professional miles and the B.A.A. 5K, and we expect a fun and successful day."
The Boston Athletic Association has offered scholastic races as far back as 1890, including the B.A.A. Schoolboy Games that began in the mid-1900s and ran through the early 1970s.
In that spirit, it is fitting that Flanagan highlights the professional races: Flanagan was a high-school star at nearby Marblehead (MA) High School.
Flanagan brought home the bronze medal at 10,000m from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She is only the second American woman to win an Olympic medal at 10,000m, after Lynn Jennings's bronze in 1992. The 27-year-old Flanagan also holds four American records on the track, at 5000m and 10,000m outdoors and 3000m and 5000m indoors, and has had good fortune competing in front of home-town crowds in Boston: both indoor American marks were set in Boston.
The Mile will follow a three-loop course, beginning on Boylston Street, left on Dartmouth Street, left on Newbury Street, left on Exeter Street then left onto Boylston. Both the 5K and Mile will begin on Boylston Street near Copley Square Park, and end at the Boston Marathon finish line.
Jack Fleming (organisers) for the IAAF
