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Jan-10-2006
Keflezighi to Run Boston Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
John Hancock Financial Services, whose cash powers the elite fields of the BAA Boston Marathon, announced today that Olympic silver medalist, Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., would compet in the 110th running of their event on Monday, 17.
Keflezighi, 30, who has a career best time of 2:09:53, is the first athlete to be announced by Boston, and surely their top American. An American man has not won since Greg Meyer in 1983.
"The Boston Marathon is internationally recognized and has a great tradition, and I know there will be high expectations for me," Keflezighi said in a prepared statement. "I always 'run to win.' It is the motto that I live by."
Keflezighi has competed well in other major marathons. In three starts at the ING New York City Marathon, he has gotten onto the podium twice: second in 2004 and third in 2005. He was also second at the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon in 2004 where he qualified for the Olympic Games. In extreme heat in Athens, he finished second behind Stefano Baldini of Italy becoming the first American man since Frank Shorter in 1976 to win an Olympic marathon medal.
"Meb is a great competitor, and he will contend for the victory," said Guy Morse, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the marathon. "He is in the top tier internationally, and we are thrilled John Hancock was able to secure one of America's best male distance runners to compete at Boston this year."
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