Marathon 2009

Press contact:
Cynthia Canham
(617) 732-0245
ccanham@mabcommunity.org

MAB Team With A Vision Runs Boston Marathon April 20

Brookline — April 10, 2009 — MAB Community Services’s Team With A Vision will run the 113th Boston Marathon April 20. The team includes 14 runners and five guides, including elite blind athletes Adrian Broca and Kurt Fiene.

Broca and Fiene potentially rank among the fastest 500 runners of the Boston Marathon, according to the April issue of Runner’s World Magazine.

“It’s incredible what these blind and visually impaired athletes can do,” MAB CEO Barbara Salisbury said. “They’re truly inspirational.”

The runners of MAB’s sixteenth annual Boston Marathon team have trained for months in anticipation of the Marathon, in some cases preparing for the race while barely able to see the course. The blind athletes will run with sighted guides to accompany them along the way.

The Team With A Vision’s elite blind runners have been featured frequently in media coverage throughout their athletic careers. Runner’s World story “Blind Ambition” profiles Broca’s and Fiene’s experiences as blind athletes in the magazine’s latest issue. Additionally, Fox News will interview the runners prior to the race Marathon Monday during its live coverage of the event.

The Boston Athletic Association qualifying time for blind/visually impaired athletes is five hours; Broca and Fiene have run marathons in around 2:50, rivaling the race times of competing sighted runners. In 2007, Broca finished first in the visually impaired division in 3:00:12. In 2008, Fiene seized the title in 2:55:00, with Broca just behind him in 2:56:18. The 2009 race will be a showdown between the two to reclaim the title.

The team consists of both qualified and non-qualified runners. While qualified runners have no fundraising requirement, non-qualified participants must each raise a minimum of $3,500 to participate in the race. However, qualified athletes still fundraise to make a difference through their running.

MAB’s Marathon Coordinator, Tania Fernandez, can be reached at (617) 732-0241 or tfernandez@mabcommunity.org

ABOUT MAB:

MAB Community Services is dedicated to working with individuals with disabilities to eliminate barriers and create opportunities. Founded in 1903 as the Massachusetts Association for the Blind, MAB Community Services is the oldest social service agency in the country dedicated to serving blind and visually impaired individuals. MAB has diversified to include programs for adults with developmental disabilities and a residential treatment program for adolescents with brain injuries.