FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jack Fleming (BAA)
(617) 237-1652, x 2627
Honorary Roles at the 2005 Boston Marathon
Jacqueline Gareau, Grand Marshall
BOSTON - (April 7, 2005) - Jacqueline Gareau, the women's Open division
champion in 1980, will serve as the Boston Marathon's Grand Marshall this
year. She will ride in a pace vehicle, ahead of the elite women's field.
Gareau, from Canada, is the Boston Marathon's first Grand Marshall other
than John A. Kelley, who passed away on October 6, 2004.
Gareau's victory 25 years ago was overshadowed by Rosie Ruiz, who only ran
a part of that year's race, but who crossed the finish line ahead of
Gareau. Ruiz was subsequently disqualified. Gareau will precede the Elite
Women's Start, which begins from Hopkinton, Mass. at 11:31am on Monday,
April 18. Besides winning in 1980, Gareau also finished runner-up at Boston
on two other occasions (1982 and 1983). Overall, she finished in the top 10
at the Boston Marathon five times.
Also, three-time champion Uta Pippig, who won the Boston Marathon in three
consecutive years (1994-96) will be the official starter of the Elite
Women's Start. Last year (the first year that the Boston Marathon held a
separate start for elite women), the race's honorary starter was Joan
Benoit Samuelson. Pippig was sworn-in as an American citizen on July 3,
2004 at a ceremony on Boston's Esplanade. This will be her first Patriots'
Day as a citizen of the USA.
Senator John F. Kerry (D., Mass.) will be the official starter of the
wheelchair division race, which begins at 11:25am. Kerry has been a strong
supporter of the Boston Marathon's wheelchair division since the early
1980s.
Walter Brown II will be the official starter of the Noon (mass) race.
Traditionally at the Boston Marathon, a member of the legendary Brown
family of Boston is involved in the start of the Boston Marathon.
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