Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women

The Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women is a major 10 kilometer (6.2 mi) road race held annually in Boston, Massachusetts, on Columbus Day, popular as both an elite world-class competition and a women's running event promoting health and fitness. In 2013, the race drew nearly 6,000 participants[1] and tens of thousands of spectators.

2011 Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women winner Janet Cherobon-Bawcom leads the pack at the race's start.

Since 1994, the race has doubled as the USA Women's 10 km Championship (USA Track & Field) 18 times.[2] It has attracted many of the world's top distance runners, including Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won three times, and Lynn Jennings, a six-time winner.

Begun in 1977 as the Bonne Bell Mini Marathon, the race took on its current name when the Tufts Health Plan became its sponsor in 1985.[3] For several years it was the largest women-only 10K in the US, most recently in 2011.[4]

The race course[5] starts on Beacon Street near the Boston Common, crosses the Charles River via the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge into Cambridge near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, forms a loop along the river on Memorial Drive, and crosses back over the bridge and into Boston down brownstone-lined Commonwealth Avenue. The finish line on Charles Street returns the runners to the Boston Common for celebration.

The race has become a Boston tradition. "With Tufts now a holiday fixture, Columbus Day in Boston means thousands of vibrant, healthy women striding up and down the Charles," wrote Don Allison in Runner's World[6] after the race's 20th anniversary in 1996.

Winners

Year Winner Time
2014  Jordan Hasay (USA) 31:38.9
2013  Sentayehu Ejigu (ETH) 31:32.9
2012  Hellen Jemutai (KEN) 32:29.8
2011  Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (USA) 32:46.4
2010  Molly Huddle (USA) 31:59.9
2009  Molly Huddle (USA) 32:06.6
2008  Molly Huddle (USA) 32:51.2
2007  Deena Kastor (USA) 32:01.0
2006  Kathryn McGregor (USA) 32:37.5
2005  Kathryn McGregor (USA) 32:25.2
2004  Marie Davenport (IRL) 32:47.4
2003  Elva Dryer (USA) 32:33.3
2002  Marla Runyan (USA) 31:45.4
2001  Colleen deReuck (USA) 32:11
2000  Catherine Ndereba (KEN) 32:46
1999  Libbie Hickman (USA) 32:49
1998  Libbie Hickman (USA) 31:57
1997  Gladys Ondeyo (KEN) 32:46
1996  Gladys Ondeyo (KEN) 32:47
1995  Collette Murphy (USA) 32:30
1994  Elana Meyer (RSA) 31:39
1993  Lynn Jennings (USA) 32:02
1992  Lynn Jennings (USA) 32:22
1991  Lynn Jennings (USA) 32:12
1990  Lynn Jennings (USA) 32:39
1989  Lynn Jennings (USA) 31:57
1988  Anne Hannam (NZL) 31:38
1987  Nancy Tinari (CAN) 32:22
1986  Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) 31:40
1985  Joan Benoit Samuelson (USA) 31:49
1984  Betty Jo Geiger (USA) 31:51
1983  Joan Benoit Samuelson (USA) 31:36
1982  Anne Audain (NZL) 31:42
1981  Jan Merrill (USA) 32:04
1980  Patti Catalano (USA) 32:24
1979  Margaret Groos (USA) 32:47
1978  Joan Benoit Samuelson (USA) 33:15
1977  Lynn Jennings (USA) 34:31

References

  1. "Massachusetts Race Results,Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women Boston, MA, October 14, 2013". Coolrunning.com. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  2. "Tufts Health Plan 10 km Boston MA/USA". Association of Road Racing Statistic. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  3. Singelai, Neil (16 October 1985). "Tufts 10 Takes Over for ‘Bonne’ This Fall". The Boston Globe.
  4. "Largest Races, Women-Only". runningusa.org. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  5. "Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women Race Course". Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  6. Allison, Don (January 1997). "Tufts Turns 20 With a Non-Lynn Win". Runner's World 32 (1): 92.
List of winners

External links