Defending Champs Back for BAA 5K & Inv. Mile

Defending Champions, International Medalists Return for B.A.A. 5K and B.A.A. Invitational Mile

National
record holders Molly Huddle and Ben True seek to retain B.A.A. 5K
titles, while Dawit Seyaum and Chris O’Hare lead B.A.A. Invitational
Mile fields.

BOSTON
ÛÓ The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) today announced an elite
field of world class competitors for the 2016 B.A.A. 5K and B.A.A.
Invitational
Mile, to be held on Saturday, April 16, two days prior to the 2016
Boston Marathon®. Rhode
Island’s Molly Huddle and New
Hampshire’s Ben True will return to Boston aiming to defend their
B.A.A. 5K titles, which they earned in national record time last year.

Following
the B.A.A. 5K, Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum and Great Britain’s Chris O’Hare
will lead world-class fields at the eighth annual B.A.A. Invitational
Mile. The
B.A.A. Invitational Mile will also include Middle School 1,000 meter
races and Scholastic Mile races featuring youths from the eight
cities and towns of the Boston Marathon course.

A
$39,900 (USD) prize purse will be distributed to the top finishers of
the B.A.A. 5K, while a $14,500 (USD) prize purse will be available in
the B.A.A. Invitational
Mile.

Huddle
and True are veterans on the roads of Boston, having won a total of
five B.A.A. 5K races since 2011. Huddle has placed first two years in a
row, while
True broke the tape out front of the men’s race in 2011, 2012, and
2015. Last year, True won with an American record time of 13:22, while
Huddle finished first in a national best 14:50. The pair will be up
against a field of accomplished athletes this year,
including Olympic and World Championships medalists.

Dejen
Gebremeskel, the reigning B.A.A. Invitational Mile champion, will
return to the B.A.A. 5K this year, a race which he won in both 2013 and
2014. Gebremeskel
is the 2012 Olympic silver medalist for 5000m on the track. Kenyans
Stephen Sambu and Philip Langat, as well as American Diego Estrada, also
figure to be in the mix for the $7,500 top prize.

Huddle
will be joined on the starting line by a pair of B.A.A. 5K champions in
Kim Smith (NZL) and Lineth Chepkurui (KEN). Smith, a two-time B.A.A.
Distance
Medley victor, is a training partner of Huddle’s in Providence, R.I.
Ethiopia’s Buze Diriba, Burundi’s Diane Nukuri, and Americans Emily
Sisson and Liz Costello will all be racing as well. Representing the
B.A.A. High Performance team are Sarah Pagano, Emma
Bates, Juliet Bottorff, and Elaina Balouris.

A
field of 10,000 participants will take part in the B.A.A. 5K, the first
event of the 2016 B.A.A. Distance Medley. The race starts and finishes
on Charles
Street adjacent to Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden, and
passes the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street approximately
2.4 miles into the race.

European
Championships bronze medalist Chris O’Hare will square off against six
other sub-four minute milers in the B.A.A. Invitational Mile. Daniel
Winn,
a member of the B.A.A. High Performance team, will race on the roads of
Boston for the first time, boasting a mile personal best of 3:57.36.
B.A.A. Mayor’s Cup Cross Country winner Trevor Dunbar is set to race as
well.

On
the women’s side, defending champion Dawit Seyaum returns to Boston
seeking to retain her title. In 2015, Seyaum set an event record of
4:35.4 to win her
first B.A.A. Invitational Mile title. Earlier this year she claimed the
silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland,
Oregon. Road mile ace Heather Kampf, B.A.A. High Performance team member
Emily Lipari, and Dartmouth graduate Megan Krumpoch
will also race the three-lap course before finishing at the Boston
Marathon finish line on Boylston Street.

A
detailed start list and schedule of events for both the B.A.A. 5K and
B.A.A. Invitational Mile can be found below. The men’s event record for
the B.A.A.
5K stands at 13:22, set by Ben True in 2015. The women’s event record
is 14:50, run by Molly Huddle a year ago. The men’s and women’s event
records for the B.A.A. Invitational Mile are 4:03.3 (Nick Willis, 2013)
and 4:35.4 (Dawit Seyaum, 2015).

The
B.A.A. Invitational Mile includes six races, held shortly after the
2016 B.A.A. 5K. The first two races feature middle school age students
from the eight
cities and towns of the Boston Marathon course ÛÓ Hopkinton, Ashland,
Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston. The girls’
and boys’ Middle School 1,000 meter races include runners between sixth
and eighth grade and finish at the Boston
Marathon finish line on Boylston Street.

Following
the Middle School 1,000 meter races is the Scholastic Mile, which
features girls’ and boys’ races for high school students from the eight
cities
and towns of the Boston Marathon course. The Scholastic Mile follows
the same three-lap, USATF-certified course the professional mile
athletes run, finishing at the Boston Marathon finish line.

SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2016 ÛÓ SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

8:00 a.m.
B.A.A. 5K, Boston Common

10:30 a.m.
Girls’ Middle School 1,000 meters, Boston Marathon Finish Line

10:40 a.m. Boys’ Middle School
1,000 meters, Boston Marathon Finish Line

10:55 a.m.
Girls’ Scholastic Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line

11:05 a.m. Boys’ Scholastic
Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line

11:20 a.m.
Men’s Invitational Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line

11:30 a.m. Women’s Invitational
Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line

B.A.A. 5K ELITE FIELD – MEN

Name

Age

Citizenship/Residence

Road 5K PB

Location

Dejen Gebremeskel

Ethiopia