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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

DFMC Team: A Worthy Challenge for the Fleet of Foot

Posted January 30th, 2008 at 11:09 AM by Jeremy Sussman

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Columns, SPOTLIGHT

Training for the Boston Marathon certainly provides runners with the experience of a lifetime and countless health benefits. Some even run fast enough to help improve the health of others.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) team is looking for qualified runners who want to add a new dimension to their training by running for others as well as themselves. Runners who have run a qualifying time at a certified marathon after Sept. 23, 2006, can join the DFMC team and run to raise money that supports researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. These researchers have taken on another type of challenge: Curing Cancer.

Each Challenge runner agrees to raise at least $3000 by May 21, 2008, a sum that is easier to raise than most think. The average amount raised per runner in 2007 was more than $7000 and 100 percent of the money goes to the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
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Lance Armstrong to Run Boston Marathon

Posted January 17th, 2008 at 1:22 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Lance Armstrong plans to extend his marathon career by running the 2008 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today. It will be his third marathon; he ran the ING New York City Marathon in both 2006 and 2007.

In a press release the B.A.A. took care to explain that Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, had actually qualified for the race like any other runner by running a 2:46:43 at New York last November (the qualifying standard for men 35 to 39 is 3:15:00). Most of the 22,473 runners who entered Boston last year had to qualify, although some were granted entry through charity groups or other special entry programs.

As in his two previous marathons, Armstrong will be running to raise money for his Lance Armstrong Foundation, which pursues an agenda focused on cancer prevention, access to screening and care, the improvement of the quality of life for cancer survivors, and an investment in research. Armstrong survived testicular cancer which was diagnosed in 1996.
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Boston College to Host NCAA D-I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships

Posted November 9th, 2007 at 8:05 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Cross Country

The Boston College men’s and women’s cross country teams will play host to the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships held at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass., on Sat. Nov. 10.

The men, who are ranked 13th in the Northeast bracket, will start competition at 2:30 p.m. They will race amongst other top-ranked squads including Iona (1), Providence (2), Syracuse (3), Cornell (4) and Columbia (5).

The Eagles turned in a 10th place finish at last year’s regional championship. Senior captain Patrick Mellea ran the course in 31:36.8, qualifying him for the NCAA Championship.
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Ethiopians, BAA, Shoe4Africa Win Big at Mayor’s Cup Cross Country Races in Boston, MA

Posted October 29th, 2007 at 8:59 AM by Allyson Rosen

Section: News & Results, Cross Country

Blustery winds, blue skies, and temperatures in the lower 50s created the quintessential New England cross country backdrop for the 782 finishers in Sunday’s Mayor’s Cup Cross Country Races, presented by adidas and the Boston Athletic Association, and directed by USA Track & Field (New England Association) and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department in conjunction with Boston Centers for Youth and Families.

Westchester (New York) Track Club repeated its feat from last year, sending both the male and female champions to the winner’s circle, and Aziza Ayilu – an Ethiopian residing in the Bronx – became the first female to win back-to-back since the legendary Lynn Jennings successfully defended her title in 1994-’95.
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Book Review: Warwick Ford’s
“Fun on Foot in New England”

Posted July 16th, 2007 at 12:15 PM by Katie Drummond

Section: Motivation, Books, Special Features, TFS Reviews

Whether you’re a first time visitor or you live and breathe Red Sox and clam chowder, “Fun on Foot in New England”, the new guide to running and walking America’s east from guide-writing pro Warwick Ford and his wife, Nola, is an invaluable resource for those seeking diverse areas, both well-known and obscure, to explore in the eastern region.

While Ford is no stranger to the world of running and walking guides, having penned the award-winning “Fun on Foot in America’s Cities”, his new guide offers a more in-depth profile of the region (including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) he has called home for more than 10 years. Rather than brief descriptions of common walking and running routes, this detailed resource offers a variety of paths and loops throughout New England, each one outlined with a clear map and step-by-step steering for easy navigation.
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True joins sub-4:00 club

Posted June 18th, 2007 at 12:40 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Ben True became the latest American to break the four-minute barrier for the mile, clocking 3:59.99 at the USATF New England Outdoor Championships held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. over the weekend.

True, who attended Greeley High School in Maine before embarking on his collegiate career at Dartmouth College in 2004, finished 28/100ths of a second ahead of Georgetown University’s Matt Debole. True’s previous best was 4:02.61 set last April.
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Top running routes in Boston

Posted June 13th, 2007 at 4:15 PM by Warwick Ford

Section: Running & Training, Columns, Fun on Foot

Warwick Ford is a guest contributor to The Final Sprint and author of “Fun on Foot in America’s Cities” and “Fun on Foot in New England,” the books that describe and map the best on-foot routes in U.S. cities. Check out FunOnFoot.com for more information and to purchase the book or maps.

Boston is a city of the young (the region is host to way more than its fair share of the nation’s top colleges) and the young at heart. This makes it a dream city for running, jogging, or walking. There is a massive foot-mobile population, so if you feel like a jog almost anywhere here you will rarely feel out of place.

However, wise choice of route always makes a run or jog more enjoyable and easier to embark upon and finish. For a training or recreational route to be motivating and enjoyable, the Fun on Foot model says it needs to have four attributes: Comfort from both the safety and underfoot perspective; Attractions to make it interesting; Convenience to city center and public transit; and a worthy Destination to help motivate you to finish the route.

In “Fun on Foot in New England” we applied this model to Greater Boston and came up with 13 excellent routes. Narrowing this down, here are the very best routes that are just too good for any outdoor exerciser to miss:
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Boston Marathon set to begin two hours earlier on April 16th

Posted March 26th, 2007 at 10:39 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Marathons

As was announced in August 2006, the Boston Athletic Association, in cooperation with the eight cities and towns along the Boston Marathon course, will begin the 111th Boston Marathon, Monday, April 16, 2007, at 10:00 a.m.

The B.A.A. has been discussing this concept with officials of each of the cities and towns since 2005 and has received support from representatives of each, as well as those from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Mobility Impaired Program, Wheelchair and Elite Women’s divisions will continue to start earlier. The race will also continue to utilize a two-wave start, with the first wave beginning at 10 a.m.
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