MEDIA ADVISORY: Fenway Park Marathon this Friday, Sept. 15

Believed to be the first marathon ever to be held totally within a major league ballpark.

WHAT:  Inaugural Fenway Park Marathon managed by DMSE Sports to benefit the Red Sox Foundation, believed to be the first marathon ever to be held totally within a major league ballpark.

WHEN:  5 p.m., this Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 - Participants should arrive by 3:30, Spectators any time after 3:30.

COURSE: The 26.2-mile course inside the storied ballpark will loop around the perimeter of the outfield warning track 116 times. The course will be monitored electronically.

SPECTATORS + PARKING: Spectators are welcome free of charge and can park in the 73 Brookline Avenue lot ($10 fee), across from the Park, enter via Yawkey Way and Gate D and will be directed to sit in the seats along the 1^st base line.  Concessions will be available. 

MEDIA: Media interested in going live from the ballpark during the marathon must RSVP to Zineb Curran, zcurran@redsox.com, by this Thursday, Sept.  14. To interview Dave McGillivray, contact Beryl Wolfe, beryl@wolfenews.com or Dave McGillivray directly at dmse@dmsesports.com.  

THE COURSE: The 26.2-mile course inside the storied ballpark will loop around the perimeter of the outfield warning track 116 times. The laps will be monitored electronically. The START will be in left field by the Green Monster and the FINISH is at the Red Sox dugout along first base. The race will be run in a counter clockwise direction, similar to running in a track meet on a track. 

WHO: Dave McGillivray, the director of the race who also directs the Boston Marathon, will be one of the 50 runners in the field.  Also running are two well-known endurance runners – Becca Pizzi from Belmont, Mass., who won the 2016 World Marathon Challenge (WMC) and Michael Wardian from Arlington, Va., who won the 2017 World Marathon Challenge, which consists of running 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 different continents.  McGillivray is an entrant himself in the 2018 WMC. Also coming are Bryan Lyons and Rick Hoyt.

REGISTRATION:  The race, which filled in less than two weeks, was limited to 50 entrants who will raise a minimum of $5,000 in exchange for a bib to benefit the Red Sox Foundation, the official charity of the Boston Red Sox that primarily focuses on youth programming and cancer research. More information is available at redsoxfoundation.org/marathon.

BACKGROUND: McGillivray and his DMSE Sports have familiarity with incorporating Fenway Park into running events. DMSE presently directs the Run to Home Base 9K Road Race, which starts on Yawkey Way and finishes on the warning track by the Green Monster. The company also helps to manage the B.A.A. Half Marathon, which once ran in, around and out of Fenway Park.

“It’s going to be an amazing event,” said McGillivray, a lifelong Red Sox fan who has run into Fenway Park numerous times to finish various epic events, including two cross-country runs and one East Coast run for charity. “As a die-hard Red Sox fan and as a young boy growing up in the area, I dreamed of playing second base in Fenway Park. Although that never happened, I substituted running into Fenway Park for playing in Fenway Park.”

MEDIA CONTACT: For more information, contact Dave McGillivray, dmse@dmsesports.com; Beryl Wolfe; beryl@wolfenews.com or if TV and need access, contact Zineb Curran, zcurran@redsox.com at the Red Sox by Thursday.

ABOUT THE RED SOX FOUNDATION
 The official team charity of the Boston Red Sox, the Red Sox Foundation has distributed over $96 million to support programs serving children and families across New England. The Foundation’s efforts are primarily focused on five cornerstone programs: the Red Sox Scholars Program, which provides tutoring, mentoring, enrichment programs and a college scholarship to academically talented but economically disadvantaged Boston public school students; the Red Sox Foundation's RBI and Rookie League youth baseball and softball programs serving more than 2,000 inner city teens each summer; the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat stress and traumatic brain injury; The Dimock Center in Roxbury, serving more than 80,000 low-income families in Boston’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods; and The Jimmy Fund, supporting breakthrough cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Red Sox Foundation raises funds through special events, corporate sponsorships, and grants. Founded and initially funded by Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, President/CEO Emeritus Larry Lucchino and their partners, the Red Sox Foundation has won numerous awards for the impact of its innovative programs. In 2010, the Foundation’s Red Sox Scholars program was recognized by Major League Baseball with the first-ever “MLB Commissioner’s Award for Philanthropic Excellence.” In 2009, the Red Sox Foundation was honored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Sports Philanthropy Project with the Patterson Award as the nation’s “Best Team Charity in Sports.”  For more information about the foundation, visit redsoxfoundation.org.

ABOUT DMSE SPORTS
Founded by Dave McGillivray in 1981, DMSE Sports is a leader in sports event management, specializing in creating, marketing and producing mass participatory athletic events throughout the U.S. and abroad. DMSE works with the B.A.A operations team in overseeing all the logistics and technical operations of the B.A.A. Boston Marathon, and manages the TD Beach to Beacon in Maine, the New Balance Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod, the Finish at the 50 at Patriot Place, the Feaster Five, the Bellin Run in Green Bay, Wis., the DMSE Sports Classic Half Marathon, among others. For additional information on McGillivray or DMSE Sports, visit www.dmsesports.com or find DMSE on Facebook and Twitter.