For the second straight year, Sunday's Bobby Doyle 5M Summer Classic (and 3M Walk) will be part of the USATF-New England Grand Prix series. And for the second straight year, MileSplit RI will have its camcorder on all the action with start-to-finish coverage that will also include commentary.
Yours truly, Steve Mazzone, will be joined alongside Mike Giberti on the press truck. The 24-year-old Giberti will provide our color commentary. He proved to us at last year's event that he owns a wealth of knowledge on the local and New England running circuit. He'll give you all the insight about the top competitors in the field. A little on his background: He's a former track athlete from Derry, N.H., who competed as a middle-distance specialist while at Trinity High. During his senior year, he finished sixth in the mile at the New Hampshire Meet of Champions, a race won by former Northeastern/Oregon star and current Nike Oregon Project runner Eric Jenkins. He also competed at Bridgewater State College and is currently a web application developer for UniFirst Corporation.
Plan on another exciting race down in Narragansett. In last year's event, 16 runners cracked 25 minutes for the five-mile course. With it again being part of the Grand Prix series we should see similar results on Sunday. If you haven't done it already, there's still plenty of time to register for the Bobby Doyle five-miler (and 3K walk).The popular event starts and finishes at Narragansett Pier School on South Pier Road and begins at 9 a.m. The registration fee is just $28 before Aug. 12. That fee includes a Tech T-shirt, an awesome finishers' medals and a ticket to the post-race raffle. Don't forget, your cash also goes to a great cause. All proceeds are used to enhance youth and high school running in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts.