McGillivray Marks 60th Birthday with Ultra-Long Run
Dave McGillivray, the race director of the B.A.A. Boston Marathon and the upcoming TD Beach to Beacon and New Balance Falmouth Road Race, is planning to put the ‘miles’ in his upcoming milestone birthday by running 60 miles to mark the occasion.
He began running his age in miles on his birthday as a 12-year-old in Medford, Mass., and has continued the tradition ever since.
McGillivray, who officially turns 60 on Aug. 22, will make his run on Aug. 9 on a 3.5 mile route near his North Andover, Mass., home that includes a loop around the Old Town Common and back 17 times.
Approaching the task as he would the major sporting events that he directs, McGillivray has not only been training for the run but has planned a party at his home that day (open to media). He has been preparing for the run since the spring, including completing the entire course of the Boston Marathon after the crowds dispersed to benefit the Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation (known as MR8) and again running the entire 26.2 mile marathon course last week. He also did a 43-mile training run on the loop course a few weeks ago and said he felt great. Famed runners such as Bill Rodgers, Joan Samuelson, Amby Burfoot, Bart Yasso and Team Hoyt plan to run some birthday miles with McGillivray.
McGillivray has also been running in the races he directs this year as a way to critique the event from the runner’s point of view. He will join the field Aug. 2 for the TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
McGillivray, president of DMSE Sports, also plans to return to Kona, Hawaii in October to participate in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship for the ninth time – but for the first time in 25 years. He will compete in the Ironman to once again benefit MR8.
McGillivray gained national prominence with his 1978 cross country run that took 80 days and raised almost $150,000 for the Jimmy Fund – the first money any runner ever raised for a cancer charity, according to Runner’s World. He has completed a number of similar feats of endurance since his groundbreaking cross country trek, including a second cross-country run in 2004 from San Francisco to Boston as part of TREK USA, a relay team event that raised more than $300,000 for five children’s charities. He has now logged more than 150,000 miles, eight Hawaii Ironman Triathlons and now has finished 131 marathons – including 42 consecutive Boston Marathons.
McGillivray learned he had coronary heart disease last fall and has spoken out about getting healthy and going in for heart tests, even if you think you are healthy and in shape. He has lost 27 pounds, dropped his cholesterol level by over 70 points and has been following a very, very strict and healthy diet, which he credits as having given him his health back and now feels he is in his best shape in 15 years.
McGillivray is a pioneer in what is now one of the most important aspects of the endurance sports industry – combining athletics with philanthropy. Nearly every DMSE Sports event combines fitness and fundraising, giving back to the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Children’s Hospital, Lazarus House and many others charities and non-profit organizations in New England and across the country. He along with all the events he has directed have helped raised more than $100 million for charity over the years since starting DMSE Sports in 1981.
– Submitted by Wolfe PR