The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) for the 2020 Boston Marathon has once again doled out 22 invitational entries to the Town of Wellesley, which like other communities along the race route is privy to the coveted charitable race slots. Runners who are granted an invitational number get the prestige of running the historic 26.2 mile course and the advantage of having qualifying times waived. (The BAA for 2020 set those times for men and women ages 40 – 44 at 3 hours, 10 minutes and 3 hours, 40 minutes, respectively. You can see all the qualifying times categories here.)
Wellesley has picked which charities will receive those numbers for the 124th running of the the Marathon. Here they are as presented by Wellesley Communications Manager Stephanie Hawkinson at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting:
Wellesley Fire Department:
Ben Hampton
Alex DeLorie
War Memorial Scholarship Fund:
Mark Johnson (WMS teaching assistant & Wellesley resident)
Tom Crehan (Facilities Management Dept. employee)
Non-profits (*one entry each, unless noted)
Non-profits (*1 entry each unless noted)
Wellesley METCO
Wellesley Scholarship Foundation
Wellesley Friendly Aid
Wellesley ABC (two entries)
Wellesley Education Foundation
Wellesley Theatre Project
Friends of the COA
Community Investors
Elizabeth Seaton Residence
Newton Wellesley Weston Committee for Community Living
World of Wellesley
MassBay Community College Foundation
Stray Pets in Need (SPIN)
Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries
Wellesley Softball Field Improvement Committee
Wellesley Rotary (two entries)
Now it’s up to the individual charities to dispense them to runners who, in exchange for the privilege or running 26.2 grueling miles from the Hopkinton starting point to the Copley Square finish line in Boston, must raise a minimum of $4,500 each.
To be considered for an invitational entry for the 2020 race, charities got their Marathon Charity Application in to the Selectmen’s office by Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.
Ok please stop referring to the minimums as “whopping”. These are still way lower than many other charities for Boston. Some Boston charities have $10,000 minimums. And saying it’s cheaper to hire a coach or trainer and just qualify is missing the point. I’m personally an hour away from qualifying. I know people for whom it has taken 7 years to get a qualifying time. Not everyone has the luxury of the time and money it takes to work that hard over that many years to do it. And putting it in those terms also negates the positives of raising money for charity.