A Grand Slam
The Fenway Park Marathon
Rounding Right Field
As a life-long fan of the Boston Red Sox, an avid photographer, and a retired marathon runner (damn you, knees!) I was thrilled to photograph the Fenway Park Marathon this past weekend.
Yes, it was exactly what it sounds like: a marathon run inside of the home of the Boston Red Sox.
The event was organized by my friend Dave McGillivray of Dave McGillivray Sports Enterprise (DMSE), the legendary Boston Marathon race director, to benefit his Finish Strong Foundation and the Red Sox Foundation.
Group Photo in front of the Green Monster
In addition to marathon distance, there was a marathon relay (5 member teams) and a couple of half-marathon. The full marathon was—by far—the big draw.
The race was run around the warning track — 113 laps to complete the 26.2 mile marathon distance.
I don’t even want to calculate the number of left turns there are in 113 laps around the warning track at Fenway Park. I never was good at math anyway.
Hydration and nutrition were available at the one aid station situated in the outfield. So essentially there were 113 aid stations. Unprecedented for a marathon!
One of 113 passes in front of the Green Monster
I could vicariously feel the adrenaline rush of the runners warming up before the start. And the start of this race was like no other race start I’ve ever seen—especially a marathon. Instead of the determined, sometimes nervous scowls of die-hard competitors, the runners were all smiling. Ear-to-ear.
This wasn’t just a race, it was a competitive party with running.
All smiles
Airborn
It’s been over a decade since I ran my last marathon, but I can’t say I wasn’t envious of the runners. I would have loved to run something like this when I was unburdened by bad knees, but photographing this unique race was the next best thing to running it.
As DMSE’s official photographer, I had on-field access, which I meant I could photograph the runners from perspectives that the spectators could not. It meant that I did not have to shoot through the protective netting, and also allowed me to get a lower perspective.
I shot from both dugouts at, or near, ground-level and from out in center field. I looked for perspectives that would complement the runners and feature Fenway’s most iconic features. I wanted to make Fenway Park a part of each runner’s story. Or maybe each runner a part of Fenway’s story.
Probably both.
As Dave McGillivray said in his race wrap up email, the night was a Grand Slam.
A few of the images are (obviously) featured here. I hope you like them.
Congratulations to all the runners, and many thanks to Dave and the Red Sox Foundation for allowing me to be part of this fantastic event!
From the visitor’s dugout
If you are one of the event’s participants and wish to download images of yourself for personal use, pop over to my SmugMug gallery.
Thanks for stopping by!