Track: Inaugural Marin Mile event to be held on June 1

After a standout running career at then-Drake High and Occidental College, San Anselmo’s Brody Barkan ran his first Dipsea Race in 2019.

“I loved how historic and community-oriented the Dipsea was,” Barkan said.

Since that time, a seed was planted in Barkan’s head to try and create a community event for track. The idea for the Marin Mile came to him last year and will come to fruition on June 1.

“A great part about this is that the Dipsea or a 5K or a 10k can be long — intimidating for a new runner,” Barkan said. “Anyone can wrap their head around four laps around the track.”

The four-minute mile, first achieved by Roger Bannister in 1954, was one of the most celebrated accomplishments in track history.

“Based on my research, Rich Kimball’s 1972 4:02.4 at COM is the fastest time on Marin County soil…meaning that a sub-4 minute mile has never been broken in Marin,” Barkan said via email. “I want to see if we can have local runners, including those who grew up in Marin, try to beat the time and perhaps run a sub-4 here.”

The event is being held at Archie Williams High and is tentatively scheduled to start around 3 p.m. and finish around 6 p.m. – the start time could be moved up to accommodate more signups.

“Marin is home to an incredible running culture, with some of the best running trails, great high school programs, and the oldest trail race in America, the Dipsea,” Barkan wrote. “I wanted to celebrate this culture by gathering the community together in a new way around a local track. To compete, to create community, and to connect the generations of runners.”

The June 1 date was selected because it’s one week after the CIF State Track Meet and one week before the Dipsea so runners training for either event would be in close to peak condition.

“The meet will kind of run in a slow-to-fast fashion, starting with the kids heat then moving down the ladder … culminating with the fastest miles at the end of the evening,” Barkan said.

Barkan’s love for running started at White Hill Middle School, where he was trained by current Archie Williams coach Robyn Berry.

“She’s great, such an amazing coach,” Barkan said. “She coached me to winning the county 1,600 as an eighth grader.”

From there, Barkan became a standout athlete in two sports at Drake, running track for Bill Taylor and playing soccer for Rene Ayala. Barkan was a five-time MCAL champion in track, winning the 800 meters three times in addition to running on two victorious 4×400 relay teams.

Once he got to Occidental, Barkan started running the 1,500, eventually winning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in the event in 2018.

Barkan’s personal best in the 1,500 was 3:52, which is on pace for roughly a 4:10 mile.

“We want this to be different then your standard track meet since it is focused on one race, which is a distance most people don’t get to run anymore, but is certainly the most famous distance in track and field,” Barkan wrote.

College athletes run 1,500 meters and prep athletes run 1,600 meters while a mile is exactly 1609.34 meters.

Registration for the event ends on May 29 and costs $25 for adults and $20 for kids. Visit themarinmile.com for more info.