FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joshua Milne
Sports Marketing PR Specialist
John Hancock Financial Services
Phone: 617-572-3816
Cell: 617-824-0294
BILL RODGERS UNVEILS 109TH BOSTON MARATHON BANNERS
Four-Time Boston Marathon Champion Leads Banner Day Festivities
BOSTON, MA -- March 21, 2005 -- Today, four-time winner of both the Boston
and New York City Marathons, Bill Rodgers climbed aboard a cherry picker to
unveil the 109th Boston Marathon banners. The event, which traditionally
welcomes spring and unofficially kicks off the marathon season, took place
at the Boston Marathon finish line in Copley Square. The Boston Marathon is
the oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the most prestigious road
racing events in the world. John Hancock is celebrating the 20th year of
its landmark sponsorship of the race this year.
"This event really helps to jumpstart the Boston Marathon festivities,"
Bill Rodgers said. "Helping to raise the banners creates a significant buzz
throughout the city that the race is just around the corner. Despite all
the snow we had this winter, the Boston community is counting down the days
until Marathon Monday."
John Hancock provides hundreds of banners, which will be hung throughout
the city in the coming days to celebrate the race and the achievements of
the athletes. The colorfully designed banners will add a welcomed sign of
spring to the streets of Boston.
A Massachusetts local, Rodgers has raced competitively in the top echelon
of his sport for more than a quarter century. The two American records he
set at Boston in 1975 (2:09:55) and 1979 (2:09:27) remain among the fastest
times ever run. In the history of the race only Rodgers and two other men,
Clarence DeMar and Gerard Cote, have been crowned champion four or more
times. Ranked the number one marathon runner in the world by Track & Field
News three times during his career, Rodgers won Boston in 1975 and then was
a three-peat winner from 1978-80.
About John Hancock and Manulife Financial
John Hancock continues to build on its rich history of creating and
leveraging sports marketing opportunities through its agreements with Major
League Baseball, the Olympic Games, the Boston Marathon and Champions on
Ice. John Hancock is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading
Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19
countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in
Canada and most of Asia, and primarily through John Hancock in the United
States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection
products and wealth management services through its extensive network of
employees, agents and distribution partners. The John Hancock unit, through
its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the
United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and
services, including whole life, term life, variable life, and universal
life insurance, as well as college savings products, fixed and variable
annuities, long term care insurance, mutual funds and various forms of
business insurance.
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