Lyn Licciardello of North Andover has run every single Boston 10K for Women since the race began in 1977, and this year she is one of just seven women attempting to extend that streak through the event's 50th running. She started running at age 28 after her husband, Tom, urged her to give it a try, and nearly five decades later that first jog has turned into an unbroken string of starts spanning 46 consecutive races.
The race itself has grown from a modest experiment into New England's largest all-women's sporting event, according to NBC10 Boston. As detailed by the Eagle-Tribune, Tom Licciardello was a former North Andover High School wrestling star who loved running himself and encouraged Lyn to try it, and she began training in early 1977. The couple went on to help start the Merrimack Valley Striders, a running club that now counts more than 500 members, and Lyn has also run the Feaster Five road race over the years.
A Family Legacy on the Course
The streak eventually became a family affair. Lyn hit her 20th consecutive race in October 1996 with both of her daughters, Amy Lillis and Crissy Lippman, running alongside her, according to the race's own history page at Boston 10K for Women. Crissy Licciardello Lippman, also of North Andover, has since built her own impressive run, racking up 27 consecutive finishes of her own, per the Eagle-Tribune. The family's ties to the race extend even further: the Eagle-Tribune also notes that Tom and Lyn love following UMass Amherst football and its marching band, in which granddaughter Lexi Lippman performs.
From 200 Expected to Thousands Running
When the event launched in 1977 as the Bonne Bell Mini Marathon, more than 2,000 showed up. The inaugural event was just the second all-women's road race in the country at the time, as noted by tonireavis.com.
The 1977 race started on Memorial Drive in Cambridge and finished on Charles Street in Boston.
Fast Times and a Growing Field for Race 50
The race has also produced serious speed over the decades. Lynn Jennings won the inaugural race and went on to win it six times total. The current course record belongs to Emily Sisson, who ran 31:05 to set the mark in 2025, per the race's top finishers page.
This year's 50th running was expected to draw more than 7,500 registrants from over 15 countries and 45 states, according to Running USA. To handle that larger field, organizers introduced a new two-wave pre-start procedure, the outlet reported. The race's charity program also expanded from nine to ten official charities for the milestone edition, with nearly $40,000 already raised ahead of race day, per the same report. Lyn Licciardello is one of seven trailblazers who have participated every single year the event has been held, Running USA noted, as she and the others aimed to add a 50th consecutive start to that record.
Over the decades, the event's sponsor-name sequence has included Tufts Health Plan and Reebok.
