Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot Place to Feature Expanded Kid’s Race

Registration for the Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot Place on July 4 – featuring finish at 50-yard line inside Gillette Stadium – ongoing at www.harvardpilgrim10k.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (June 8, 2011) Organizers of the July 4 Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot Place announced today that a fun-filled family day and scavenger hunt for kids has been added to the extensive list of activities over the three-day race event.

Registration for the Monday, July 4 10K as well as the schedule of events for the 2011 Patriot Place Kid’s Race on Sunday, July 3 is available at www.harvardpilgrim10k.com. Below is a more a detailed list of activities:

Saturday/Sunday, July 2-3

• The 2011 Patriot Place Kid’s Race is a two-day event featuring musical entertainment, health and fitness vendors, face painters, a balloonist and a kids tattooist. The festivities begin Saturday and run through Monday.
• On Sunday, July 3, a Scavenger Hunt will be held at 2 p.m. for kids and families at Patriot Place, with prizes to include Patriot Place gift cards and Patriots merchandise.
• Legendary four-time Boston Marathon champ Bill Rodgers will attend the events on Sunday, July 3 from 3 to 5 p.m. and be on hand to greet families coming for the Kid’s Race. Rodgers is also running the Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot Place on Monday, July 4.
• Participants in the 10K can pick up their runner’s packet and t-shirts at Patriot Place on Sunday, July 3.
• The 2011 Patriot Place Kid’s Race, where children under 12 will run inside Gillette Stadium while parents watch from the stands, will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, July 3. Younger children must be accompanied by an adult.

Participants of both the kid’s race and the Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot Place are encouraged to register in advance at www.harvardpilgrim10k.com. Families who register as teams will earn prizes for those who sign up the most members. Proceeds from the event will benefit seven charities this year.

Monday, July 4

• The Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot Place begins at 9 a.m., loops through historic Foxborough and ends inside Gillette Stadium. Runners will pass under a large inflatable football helmet and finish at the 50-yard line, where they can see themselves on the stadium’s two giant, HDTV video screens. Last year more than 3,500 runners crossed the finish line.
• The inspirational Team Hoyt with father, Dick Hoyt, and his son, Rick, will participate in the race. The Hoyts, with Dick pushing Rick, confined to a wheelchair since birth, have competed together in more than 1,000 athletic endurance events across the country since 1978 and strive to help those who are physically disabled become active members of the community.
• The event concludes with a post-race celebration at Patriot Place, the region’s top shopping, dining and entertainment destination.

“The course is great,” said Dave McGillivray, who is also the race director of the Boston Marathon. “It’s flat, picturesque, historic and finishes in a major football stadium – who could ask for more?”

Registration and additional information is available by visiting www.harvardpilgrim10k.com.
Find the race updates and information on Facebook at www.facebook.com/harvardpilgrim10k.
The charities that will benefit from the race proceeds include Camp Harbor View of the Boston Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston; the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation Scholarship Program; Massachusetts General Hospital; Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; Special Olympics Massachusetts; Rebuilding Together Boston; Employ + Ability, and Prevent Blindness America.

The race is owned and managed by Professional Race Events, LLC, a collaboration between Mike St. Laurent of Loco Running (www.locorunning.com), and Dave McGillivray of DMSE Sports (www.dmsesports.com), who also directs the B.A.A. Boston Marathon, the TD Bank Beach to Beacon 10K in Maine and the Run Gloucester! 7-Mile Road Race in Mass.

About Harvard Pilgrim
Harvard Pilgrim is a not-for-profit health plan that provides a variety of insurance plan options and self-funding arrangements to more than one million members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. For the third year in a row, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is the highest-ranked health insurance plan for overall member satisfaction in the New England region, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Member Health Insurance Plan StudySM. In addition, for the seventh consecutive year*, Harvard Pilgrim was named the #1 private health plan in America, according to an annual ranking of the nation’s best health plans by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)**. For more information, please visit www.harvardpilgrim.org.

* NCQA’s Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-11 – Private ** U.S. News/NCQA America’s Best Health Insurance Plans 2005-2009 (annual)
About Harvard Pilgrim

About Patriot Place
Adjacent to Gillette Stadium, Patriot Place features more than 1.3 million square feet of shopping, dining, and entertainment. Visitors have access to major fashion retailers, live and interactive entertainment, eateries, a four-star hotel, state-of-the-art theatre and much more. For more information, visit www.patriot-place.com.

About DMSE Sports, Inc.
Founded by McGillivray in 1981, DMSE Sports, Inc. is a leader in sports event management, specializing in creating, marketing and producing mass-participatory athletic events throughout the U.S. and abroad. McGillivray has produced or consulted on more than 900 athletic events, including 23 Boston Marathons; the 2004 and 2008 USA Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials, the 1990 Triathlon World Championship, the 1998 Goodwill Games Triathlon, and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. For more info, visit www.dmsesports.com.

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Additional Media Contact: Sharon Torgerson, Harvard Pilgrim (617) 509 7458 Sharon_Torgerson@harvardpilgrim.org

Here is more information about DMSE Sports