DMR Highlights New Balance Facility's Grand Opening
Just how fast is the newest track in Beantown?
We'll get a chance to find out this weekend.
The grand opening of New Balance's state-of-the-art athletic facility, the Boston Landing Track & Field complex, will take place on Friday night.
And what better way to test out its proposed lightning-fast 200-meter oval housed inside then with a world-record attempt.
A Night At The Track, which is presented by the Massachusetts-based athletic shoe and apparel industry leader, is a mini meet that will christen the world-class facility with six heats of the mile and conclude with a superstar quartet featuring Team New Balance athletes Heather MacLean, Elle Purrier St. Pierre, Sydney McLaughlin and high school phenom Roisin Willis locked in overdrive for an assault on a record-breaking performance in the Distance Medley Relay.
The world best of 10 minutes, 40.13 seconds for the DMR was set back in 2017 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at the Reggie Lewis Center. McLaughlin (400 meters) and Coburn (1,200m), along with Brenda Martinez (800m) and Jenny Simpson (mile), comprised the quartet in the kickoff event for the IAAF World Indoor Tour.
Five years later, there’s a good chance that record will be broken Friday night with this talented foursome.
McLaughlin, the Olympic gold-medalist for the 400m hurdles, will once again run the 400m leg. Purrier St. Pierre, a world indoor 3K silver-medalist, will move up to the mile anchor. Leading off with the 1,200m leg is MacLean, a former Olympian and a U.S. indoor 1,500m champion. Willis, who broke the national high school 800m mark this past winter, will take the baton in her speciality.
The Track At New Balance is being touted as one of the fastest tracks in the world. The public will get a chance to witness just how quick it is in this free event held during Boston Marathon Weekend. The doors open at 6 p.m. with the races starting at 7. The DMR squad is scheduled to answer the gun at 8:30.