FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Champions Return for 2014 Boston Marathon® Weekend
Joan Samuelson, Amby Burfoot, and Gelindo Bordin to Run Marathon.
Bill Rodgers to Serve as Grand Marshal of the Boston Marathon.
Greg Meyer, Jack Fultz, and Uta Pippig to Participate in
Weekend activities.
BOSTON – The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) today announced that
several former champions of the Boston Marathon® will return to participate
in events surrounding the 118th Boston Marathon, to be held on Monday,
April 21, 2014. Champions Joan Benoit Samuelson (ME; 1979, 1983), Amby
Burfoot (CT; 1968), and Gelindo Bordin (ITA; 1990) will join 36,000
entrants in this year's running of the world's oldest annual marathon.
In addition, Bill Rodgers (MA; 1975, 1978-1980) will serve as the grand
marshal of the race while Greg Meyer (MI; 1983) will serve as the finish
line announcer. Jack Fultz (MA; 1976) is the Training Advisor for the
Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) team and Uta Pippig (CO; 1994-1996)
is running the B.A.A 5K on Saturday, April 19, along with Meyer and a
record field size of 10,000 entrants.
Samuelson, 56, is a two-time Boston champion and the first-ever women's
Olympic Marathon champion, winning gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in
2:24:52. Her time of 2:50:29 in the 2013 Boston Marathon was the fastest
marathon ever run by a woman in the 55-59 age group. A resident of
Freeport, ME, Samuelson entered last year's race on the 30th anniversary of
her 1983 victory with a goal of running faster than 2:52:43, less than one
minute slower for each year since her Boston victory. Her 2:22:43 win in
1983 was a world best performance at that time. She is a John Hancock Elite
Athlete Team Ambassador and one of the sport's most recognizable and
popular personalities.
Burfoot, 67, is one of more than 4,500 participants in this year's Boston
Marathon who reached the half marathon checkpoint or later in last year's
race but were unable to cross the Boylston Street finish line. His recorded
40K split was 4:11:25. In 2013, Burfoot commemorated the 45th anniversary
of his 1968 victory, which made him the Boston Marathon's first American
champion in 11 years. A Mystic, CT resident, Burfoot was coached by the
late John J. Kelley, the first, and currently lone, B.A.A. Running Club
member to win the Boston Marathon (1957).
Bordin, 55, is the only male in history to win both the Olympic Games
Marathon and the Boston Marathon. A resident of Biella, Italy, he won the
1988 Olympic Games Marathon in Seoul, South Korea, running 2:10:32. His
2:08:19 victory in Boston in 1990 made him the only champion in the men's
open division to represent Italy and the most recent champion in the men's
open division to represent a European nation.
Rodgers, 66, will serve as the grand marshal for the 2014 Boston Marathon.
A longtime Boston resident, Rodgers is a four-time Boston champion. He will
ride in a pace car ahead of the lead runners, heralding to spectators along
the course that thousands of runners will soon be coming. The B.A.A. has
reserved the grand marshal role as a position of recognition and honor.
Rodgers is also a John Hancock Elite Team Ambassador and participates in
health and wellness initiatives for the company throughout the year. Last
year's grand marshals were Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb and Sara Mae Berman, Boston
champions and pioneers of women's marathon running.
Meyer, 58, will serve as the finish line announcer at this year's Boston
Marathon, along with Dan Roche, Sports Anchor/Reporter for CBS Boston's
WBZ-TV News. Meyer, of Belmont, MI, is the most recent American champion of
the men's open division of the Boston Marathon, having won the 1983 race in
2:09:00. Since 2012, he has served as a coach for principal sponsor John
Hancock Financial's Employee Training Team for the Boston Marathon. This
year, he will also run the B.A.A. 5K on Saturday, April 19. B.A.A.
Executive Director Tom Grilk was the finish line announcer at the Boston
Marathon from 1979 through 2013. This year, Grilk will be present at the
start line in Hopkinton on race morning and will return to Boston in the
afternoon.
Fultz, 65, is the Training Advisor for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge
(DFMC) team of runners in this year's Boston Marathon. Fultz's 1976 victory
came in 100-plus degree (Fahrenheit) heat, on a day now known as the “run
for the hoses.” This year, DFMC celebrates its 25th year and includes
hundreds of athletes with a goal of raising $5.3 million (USD) for cancer
research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. To date, DFMC has raised more
than $61 million (USD) to enable leading-edge medical science initiatives
conducted through Dana-Farber's Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative
Basic Cancer Research. Dana-Farber was among the first organizations
accepted by the B.A.A. into its Boston Marathon Official Charity Program in
1990.
Pippig, 48, is running this year's B.A.A. 5K. She won three consecutive
Boston titles, including the Centennial Boston Marathon in 1996. A native
of Germany, Pippig now resides in Longmont, CO. Many other Boston Marathon
champions, pioneers, and significant figures in race history will also be
in town to participate in Boston Marathon weekend in a number of ways.
The 2014 B.A.A. 5K will be held on Saturday, April 19 at 8:00 a.m., two
days prior to the Boston Marathon. A record field size of 10,000 entrants
will participate in the event, which starts and finishes at historic Boston
Common.
Defending champions Lelisa Desisa, of Ethiopia (men's open division) and
Rita Jeptoo, of Kenya (women's open division), members of John Hancock's
Elite Athlete Team, will look to repeat as champions, as will Hiroyuki
Yamamoto, of Japan (men's push rim wheelchair division), and Tatyana
McFadden, of Champaign, Ill. (women's push rim wheelchair division).
About the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.)
Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit
organization with a mission of promoting a healthy lifestyle through
sports, especially running. The B.A.A.'s Boston Marathon is the world's
oldest annual marathon, and the organization manages other local events and
supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round running programs.
Since 1986, the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon has been John
Hancock Financial. The Boston Marathon is part of the World Marathon
Majors, along with the international marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin,
Chicago, and New York City. More than 60,000 runners will participate in
B.A.A. events in 2014. The 118th Boston Marathon will be held on Monday,
April 21, 2014. For more information on the B.A.A., please visit
www.baa.org.
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