FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hansons-Brooks Distance Project to Return to Boston Marathon
Women's Team to Scout Boston Marathon
and U.S. Olympic Team Trials Courses
Boston, Mass. – With the Boston Athletic Association hosting the 2007 USA
Women's Marathon Championship as part of the Boston Marathon on April 16,
and the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women's Marathon on the day before
the 112th Boston Marathon, the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project women's team
is now set to make their official Boston debut. The team's five women –
Desiree Davila, Yolanda Flamino, Dot McMahan, Kelly Stewart, and Melissa
White – will be visiting Boston on February 15-17 to train on the
traditional Boston Marathon course, and to tour the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team
Trials route, which consists of multiple loops in Boston's Back Bay and
into Cambridge.
Over the past seven years, the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project of
Rochester, Mich., has emerged as the preeminent marathon training group in
the nation. Nowhere was this status more obvious than at the 2006 Boston
Marathon, when men from the Hansons program took the city by storm, placing
fourth, 10th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 19th and 22nd. The Hansons team was a large
part of an American resurgence at last year’s Boston Marathon: a race where
five Americans placed among the Top 10.
All five Hansons-Brooks women will return in two months to compete in the
2007 Boston Marathon. White (2:39:21 PR), McMahan (2:43:27 PR) and Flamino
(2:45:19 PR) have already run U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifying
standards, while Davila (debut) and Stewart (2:58:21 PR) will be attempting
to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Boston. The women will
be competing for overall Boston Marathon prize money and a separate prize
money purse for U.S. women.
Accompanying the team to Boston this week will be Hansons-Brooks
co-founders Keith and Kevin Hanson. The brothers, who own a chain of
running shoe stores in Michigan, founded the Distance Project in 2000 with
the goal of giving something back to the sport. They now own several houses
for the team, and provide travel, coaching and part-time jobs for 22
athletes.
As a part of its American Development Program, the B.A.A. is devoted to
assisting top American marathoners to visit Boston and train on the courses
where they will soon be competing for the 2007 national championship and
the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. Also as a part of the American Development
Program, the B.A.A. sponsored a men’s group from the Hansons-Brooks
Distance Project, as well as seventh place 2006 Boston Marathon finisher
Peter Gilmore of California, as they competed at the Ohme-Hochi 30K Road
Race in Japan earlier this month. All of these athletes are expected to
compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in the fall of
this year in New York City.
Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit
organization with a mission of managing athletic events and 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 Services. In 2006, the
Boston Marathon launched – along with the Flora London Marathon also in
April – the World Marathon Majors series. Other events in the series
include the Berlin-Marathon, The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, and the ING
New York City Marathon.
Media Contacts:
B.A.A.: Jack Fleming (617-236-1652, x2627; mobile: 617-459-1587;
or Marc Chalufour (617-236-1652, x2632; mobile: 617-459-1586;
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