by Larry Eder
On April 25, adidas announced the adidas BOOST Boston Games, to be held June 17-18. Today, on May 3, adidas announces in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the hometown of their adidas Global HQ, the adidas BOOST Athletics Meeting, to be held at the Adi Dassler Stadium, on adidas campus on May 13-14.
Updated on May 11, 2016.
Flotrack will be producing a live streaming video production of the two day meet, watch for details on Flotrack! RunBlogRun will product its live social media feed for both days as well, watch for the links!
An early track spike by Adi Dassler, photo from adidas communications
What follows is the announcement and information on how the global crowd of athletics fans can follow the meet!
Herzogenaurach, Germany. May 3, 2016
adidas has announced the launch of the adidas BOOST Meeting, to be held on May 13-14, 2016 on the adidas Global Headquarters Campus, on the new Adi Dassler Stadium. The stadium, built in 2006 for the use of adidas employees has never hosted a track meet. With the level of competition that will be held at the first adidas BOOST Meeting, this will be an amazing way to launch both the new athletic meeting and the stadium!
adidas’ Senior Director of Global Sports Marketing for Running, Mike McManus, could not be more enthusiastic. ” adidas is creating the most exciting and important athletics meet in Germany.” noted McManus. He then continued by discussing the meet’s purpose: The meet’s purpose is to create an environment for elite competition and fast times. The meet is open to all athletes, clubs & teams. Moreover, the meet qualifying standards will attract the best regional, national and international athletes.”
When this writer asked McManus if this is a one off meet, Mike was quite clear:” The adidas BOOST Athletics Meeting will be held on the adidas Global HQ for years to come. The BOOST Atheltics meeting allows adidas to showcase its campus, it’s plethora of athletes running under the adidas brand, and adidas’ committment to athletics. adidas is proud of its heritage in athletics and we are committed to the future development of the sport. “
Yohan Blake, photo by PhotoRun.net
adidas has been a global leader in athletics since its very beginnings, in the 1920s, with the handiwork of Adi Dassler. The adidas brand has been entrusted with the feet of many of the greatest athletics stars of all times, from Jesse Owens to Emil Zatopek, from Haile Gebrselassie to David Rudisha, and from Yohan Blake to Meseret Defar!
The adidas BOOST Meeting’s goal is pretty ambitious! Mike McManus praised the Payton Jordan Invititational, held in Palo Alto, California every first weekend of May as a model. He notes that the meet is an inspiration for the new event: ” The adidas BOOST Meeting provides an opportunity to run fast times in Central Europe. Let’s not forget, many athletes are based in Europe, or closer to the Central European Time Zone. Athletes across Europe and Africa will have a much easier adjustment traveling to Herzo, instead of making the treck to the west coast of the United States. In fact, numerous athletes are targeting the BOOST Athletics Meet in the hopes of getting selected to Rio.”
Torie Bowie, photo by PhotoRun.net
The beauty of a meet such as what adidas is planning is that fine athletes get a chance, early in their season, to reach qualifying marks required by the IAAF, IOC and their nations to be elgible for the selection for Olympic and World Championships.
For a meet to be outstanding, it must have competition from the beginning to the end. adidas is pulling out all of the proverbial stops to make the adidas BOOST Meeting a success from the first year. Mike McManus noted: ” Wow, we are incredibly excited about the athletes participating in each loaded event. Every race promises to be competitive and fast! Standouts include Yohan Blake, Jenn Suhr, Meseret Defar and Tori Bowie! Coach Terrance Mahon is bringing over his BAA Athletes to participate, including Chris O’Hare, Emma Bates, and Jenn Rhines. Likewise, the German Athletics Federation has designated the men’s 800 meter and 1,500 meter races as “Olympic Selection” races. This means that the races target Olympic Qualifying times, or 1:45 for the 800 meters and 3:35 for the 1500 meters. Across the board, the meet has a nice mix of veteran and next generation naitonal and world class athletes.”
Meseret Defar, photo by PhotoRun.net
On Friday, May 13, the schedule goes from 6 pm local with Men’s 400 meters, 6:20 PM local with Women’s 400 meters. The 200 meters follow at 6:40 PM for men and 6:50 PM for women. The first men’s 10,000m starts at 7 PM local, followed by a women’s 10,000m at 7:35 PM. The final event on Friday is the men’s elite 10,000m, at 8:15 PM local time.
On Saturday, May 14, the schedule (extended) starts with the 1500 meters at 1 PM for men and 1:20 PM for women. The Men’s 5000m starts at 1:30, followed by women’s 5000 meters at 2 PM. There are under 16 races for 800 meters, men and women’s races for 800 meters, and a kids’ race!
The final session, on Saturday May 14, starts with 100 meters for men at 4:30 PM, Women’s elite 100m at 4:45 PM. Men’s elite 800 meters at 5:15 PM and women’s elite 800m at 5:30 PM. Elite 1,500 meters follow for men at 5:40 and women at 5:50 PM.
Then, two very fast 5000 meters are planned, with the first, the men’s 5000m at 6:10 PM and the second, the women’s 5000m, at 6:30 PM local time.
adidas is planning a fast 10,000m for both men and women. In the men’s Emmanuel Kipsang, who ran 27:50 in Nairobi and Vincent Chepkok (12:51 PB for 5,000m and 26:51 for 10,000m). Mike McManus, when asked about the men’s 10,000 meters said, ” We’re setting up the race to be globally leading, so “26 something” result.
Track fans can not wait!
On the women’s side of the 10,000 meters, Meseret Defar, the ONLY women to win two Olympic 5,000 meters, is focused on the 10,000 meters. Needless to say, that will be fast!
We will announce info on streaming video and the fields on May 4. adidas is speaking with a US based streaming partner as well. Details will follow!
So mark out May 13 and 14 to follow the adidas BOOST Athletics Meeting in Herzogenaurach, Germany! Fast times in Germany!
For more information, here is the downloadable pdf brochure for the adidas BOOST Athletics Meeting, to be held on May 13-14, 2016: +LAC_adidas_Magazin03052016_3s.pdf
