Boston College Athletics
Bleday to Run in New Balance Gran Prix
January 27, 2015 | Men's Track & Field
Chestnut Hill, Mass - Boston College's John Bleday, a graduate student on the men's track and field team, has been selected to run in the prestigious New Balance Indoor Gran Prix on Feb. 7 at the Reggie Lewis Center in downtown Boston. Bleday will compete in the New Balance Men's Mile at 7:02 p.m.
Bleday is participating in the 19th installment of the New Balance Indoor Gran Prix, as the meet was founded in 1996. The Westwood, Mass. native is chasing his first sub four minute mile at the internationally renowned meet in February.
"The team, coaching staff, and anyone who knows John's quest to break 4:00 are extremely proud and excited about the chance for him to compete and represent the Eagles at the New Balance Gran Prix," said head coach Matt Kerr.
Bleday recorded his personal best 4:00.69 mile as an undergraduate at Dartmouth when he competed at a Boston University meet on Feb. 7 & 8 last year.
"John is a tremendous athlete with great versatility and strength. We have been preparing him to dream big and you can't get much bigger than competing against Olympic and World Championship medalists," said Kerr.
Some of the world's fastest miles have been run at this historic meet. The fastest mile ever run at the Indoor Gran Prix was 3:53.18 by Laban Rotich from Kenya in 2005. In 2006, eleven men--the most ever-- broke four minutes in the mile.
The 2015 New Balance Indoor Gran Prix will be broadcast live on NBC Sports from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7.
"NBIGP is one of the best pro-athelte indoor track and field competitions in the world. It sells out annually and the combined prestige of the
race, coupled with Reggie [Lewis Center] being right in our back yard will make for an electric atmosphere," said Kerr.
For ticket information and more history on the 2015 New Balance Indoor Gran Prix, visit http://www.nbindoorgrandprix.com/.
