Press Release - Boston Marathon - 7/18/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                Contact: BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
                                         Telephone: 617-236-1652
                                         Fax: 617-236-4505
                                         www.baa.org

        Sixth Annual B.A.A. Half Marathon Registration Opens Wednesday
             4,500-runner field expected to fill quickly

BOSTON, MA -- Online registration for the sixth annual B.A.A. Half Marathon 
presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute opens Wednesday, July 19 at 
www.baa.org. The event has grown steadily since its inception in 2001 when 
3,375 runners entered. With the 2006 field limited to 4,500 entrants, the 
race will fill within a few weeks.

Since the inaugural running of the B.A.A. Half Marathon in 2001, the event 
has quickly become a mainstay on the fall road race calendar, attracting 
strong international fields for the men and women. Past participants 
include Olympians such as gold medalist Valentina Yegorova, Lornah 
Kiplagat, Jen Rhines, Marie Davenport and Mark Carroll, as well as past 
Boston Marathon champions Bill Rodgers and Timothy Cherigat. In 2005, 
Celedonio Rodriguez (USA) and Nataliya Berkut (UKR) captured the men's and 
women's titles, respectively.

The B.A.A. Half Marathon course starts and finishes at Roberto Clemente 
Park in Boston's Back Bay Fens neighborhood. The route encompasses much of 
Boston's famed Emerald Necklace park system, proceeding along the Riverway, 
past Jamaica Pond and the Arborway, and into Franklin Park before reversing 
course.

For more information about the B.A.A. Half Marathon presented by 
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, please visit www.baa.org/HalfMarathon or 
http://www.jimmyfund.org/eve/event/half-marathon/.

Media Contacts: Jack Fleming (617-236-1652, x2627; ) or Marc 
Chalufour (617-236-1652, x2632; ).

                            ###