Posted: October 18, 2005

Athletics: Boston Distance Summit This Weekend

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

The Boston Athletic Association, the owners of the BAA Boston Marathon, will host a distance running summit this weekend in their home city, and several key U.S. running clubs and training groups will be represented.

"As one of the oldest running clubs in the country, based in a city known around the world for its running tradition, it is only fitting that we seize every opportunity to serve the sport,” said Guy Morse, executive director of the 118-year-old Boston Athletic Association, who also serves as race director of the Boston Marathon. “American distance running right now has turned the corner, and we want to do anything we can to help it keep going in the right direction.”

The meeting, dubbed the USA Distance Running Summit, is the second annual edition of the meeting. The first was hosted last year by ZAP Fitness in Blowing Rock, N.C., who plan to attend this years' meeting. Other clubs planning to attend include Team USA Minnesota, Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, Indiana Invaders, Big Sur Distance Project, the new Boulder Distance Club, and Team Running USA, which includes the well-known training group in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., where Olympic medalists Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi train.

Discussions on race scheduling and training methods will lead the summit agenda. Also planned are sessions on marketing strategies, health care and how to structure the optimum environment for athletic success. Guest lecturers include Bill Reifsnyder, adidas sports marketing manager; Mark Wetmore, president of Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., a Boston-based athlete-representation and events firm; Dave McGillivray, president of DMSE Inc. and race director of the Boston Marathon; Dr. James Zachazewski, clinical director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Sports Medicine & Elite Athlete Health Center; and Bill Squires, the legendary coach of a roster of American distance greats that included Bill Rodgers. Greg Meyer, winner of the Boston Marathon in 1983 when he lived and trained in Boston, will be keynote speaker at a dinner to conclude the summit.