The Boston 10K for Women, Presented by REI, formerly known as the Reebok Boston 10K for Women, Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women and the Bonne Bell Mini Marathon, is a major 10 kilometer (6.2 mi)

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

race held annually in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

on Columbus Day. It is popular as both an elite world-class competition and a women's running event promoting health and fitness. Each year, the race draws thousands of participants and nearly 20,000 spectators.

History

For many years, the race has doubled as the USA Women's 10 km Championship (

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

). It has attracted many of the world's top distance runners, including

Olympic gold medalist This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events. List of most Olympic gold medals over career This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medalis ...

Joan Benoit Samuelson and Olympian Molly Huddle, who each won four times, and Olympic bronze medalist Lynn Jennings, a six-time winner. Begun in 1977 as the Bonne Bell Mini Marathon,

Tufts Health Plan Tufts Health Plan was a Massachusetts-based non-profit health insurance company under Tufts Associated Health Plans, Inc. with headquarters in Watertown, Massachusetts. It completed a merger with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care on January 1, 2021, mak ...

became title sponsor in 1985 and supported the race for 33 years. In 2018,

Reebok Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...

took up the sponsorship of the race, and in 2021, REI became the presenting sponsor of the event. For several years it was the largest women-only 10K in the US, most recently in 2013. In the 2018 race, Emily Sisson's time does not count as a course record as an off-course public safety issue caused the race course to be adjusted after it had begun, and was approximately 300 meters short. In 2020 the in-person race was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and became a virtual event in which more than 2,000 participants registered and ran around the world. When the race resumed in 2021, now presented by REI, Weini Kelati set a new course record and American record with a time of 31:18.

Course

The race course starts on

Beacon Street Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston Uni ...

near the Boston Common, crosses the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

via the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge into

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

near the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, forms a loop along the river on Memorial Drive, and crosses back over the bridge and into Boston down brownstone-lined Commonwealth Avenue. The finish line on Charles Street returns the runners to the Boston Common for celebration.

Runners

The race has become a Boston tradition and there are at least 10 women who have run the race every year since its inception in 1977.

Winners

9 Original Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women Runners

Huddle and Chepkemoi at the Reebok Boston 10K for Women in October 2019

References

;List of winners *

External links

Official website
{{10K road races 10K runs in the United States 1977 in Boston 1977 establishments in Massachusetts Annual sporting events in the United States History of Cambridge, Massachusetts Recurring sporting events established in 1977 Sports competitions in Boston Sports in Cambridge, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Cambridge, Massachusetts Women's athletics competitions Women's sports in Massachusetts Women in Boston