Call it an inside the park home run.
Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, will host the inaugural Fenway Park Marathon on Friday, September 15. The route will be 112 laps around the park’s warning track, which includes some tight turns in the outfield.
It is thought to be the first time a marathon will be held entirely inside a major league ballpark.
Because of the dimensions of the course—one lap is 375 meters, according to race director Dave McGillivray—organizers have to limit the field size, so to speak. Only 50 runners will be accepted into the race, and they have to raise $5,000 each for the Red Sox Foundation, the official team charity of the Red Sox that focuses largely on youth programming and cancer research. Applications are being accepted on a first-come basis.
The marathon begins at 5 p.m., has a six-hour cutoff, and laps will be counted electronically.
McGillivray, a lifelong Red Sox fan and also the race director of the Boston Marathon, is planning to run the race and keep an eye on the proceedings. “It’s not hard to be directing it and running it when you can see the whole thing,” he said. The course will be U.S.A. Track & Field-certified, and he expects it will be a Boston qualifying race.
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Interest has already been high, McGillivray said, with many offering to volunteer. But he points out that he won’t need too many volunteers—there’s only one water stop that runners go by 112 times.
The Red Sox, who currently hold a 25–21 record and are in third place in the American League East, depart on a nine-game road trip the day before the marathon. They’ll be playing Tampa Bay at the time of the race, and McGillivray hopes to broadcast the game on the scoreboard during the marathon.
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Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
