DAVE MCGILLIVRAY RECEIVES LIFETIME COMMITMENT TO RUNNING AWARD

Longtime BAA Boston Marathon director and DMSE Sports president honored for dedication to business and sport of running

SAN DIEGO — Dave McGillivray, BAA Boston Marathon Race Director and President of DMSE Sports, Inc., has received the Fleet Feet, Inc. Lifetime Commitment to Running Award, which recognizes an industry leader who has shown career-long dedication to the business and sport of running.

McGillivray has served as Race Director of the BAA Boston Marathon since 1988 and has actually run the grueling marathon consecutively since 1973. He also is President of Dave McGillivray Sports Enterprises (DMSE Sports), a Massachusetts-based event management company which creates, markets and produces mass-participatory athletic events throughout the U.S. and the world.

DMSE Sports (www.dmsesports.com) has managed or consulted on more than 900 events worldwide, including the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials, the TD Bank Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, the Rock ʻnʼ Roll Denver Marathon, and this year welcomes the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2010 to its list of more than 30 annual world-class events. 

Fleet Feet Inc. CEO Tom Raynor presented the award to McGillivray at a ceremony in San Diego on June 24.

“I work with the best race committees in the world, and what I always try to drive home to them is that these are more than just races we put on,” McGillivray said. “In many cases, we are helping people realize a personal goal, or a dream...like so many who run Boston for the first time.” 

McGillivray’s interest in running really took off in 1978, at age 23, when he ran 3,452 miles across the country from Medford, Ore., to his hometown of Medford, Mass.. to raise money for children with cancer. It was upon his return that he began his long-time career in the running industry. Among other things, McGillivray has owned a running store; worked for a running shoe company; been an agent to world-class triathletes, including Dave Scott and Karen Smyers, and has been organizing and directing charitable endurance events for nearly three decades which have collectively raised tens of millions of dollars. His inspirational story of overcoming lifeʼs obstacles to achieve success is depicted in a book, The Last Pick (Rodale 2006).

Fleet Feet, Inc., (www.fleetfeetsports.com) the nation's leading franchisor of running specialty stores, honored the McGillivray as part of its annual National Franchise Conference in San Diego. Franchise owners and employees from 92 Fleet Feet Sports stores and representatives of 60 industry vendors were on hand at a dinner in which McGillivray was honored for his tremendous contributions to the sport of running.

Past recipients of this award include Bill Rodgers, Jeff and Barbara Galloway, Amby Burfoot, Elizabeth Goeke and Ellen Wessel (Founders of Moving Comfort), Betty and Roy Benson, and Jim Davis of New Balance.

Founded by McGillivray in 1981, North Andover, Mass.-based DMSE Sports, Inc. is a leader in sports event management, specializing in creating, marketing and producing mass participatory athletic events throughout the U.S. and abroad. McGillivray has produced or consulted on more than 900 mass-participatory athletic events throughout the world, including 23 Boston Marathons; the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials, the 1990 Triathlon World Championship, the 1998 Goodwill Games Triathlon, and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. For more info, visit www.dmsesports.com.