Olympian Ben Blankenship is taking his elite status from the track to the fields and into the community with the Endless Mileage Project.
Founded this year, the Endless Mileage project is a non-profit organization that is “dedicated to fostering sustainable environments and programming that inspire the next generation of track & field athletes to break barriers.”
Within the non-profit are two primary programs: The Fast Forest and Recovered Running.
The Fast Forest
Dedicated to commemorating athletes who have broken one of the most sought-after marks in all of sport, The Fast Forest memorializes those who have etched their names into the history books by going sub-4:00 and sub-4:30 in the mile.
Across the field you can find saplings with the names of the 692 athletes who have crossed the barrier, each with the date, finishing time, and location of the achievement. Per a tweet from the project, “As times are ratified by World Athletics, additional trees will be planted and tagged on a yearly basis.”
The Fast Forest is a grove of 692 trees at @Willamalane‘s historic Dorris Ranch, commemorating the 692 Americans who have broken the sub-4/4:30 mile barrier
— Endless Mileage Project (@endless_mileage) November 15, 2022
As times are ratified by World Athletics, additional trees will be planted and tagged on a yearly basis pic.twitter.com/BBqwgvAhE2
You can browse The Fast Forest page on the website to see individual trees and the athletes to whom they are dedicated. The trees are tagged chronologically, and you can find a particular tree/athlete either by clicking on icons on the map, or typing the name you are looking for into the search bar. As for Blankenship, his tree is marked #346 with a time of 3:57.9, achieved on March 6, 2010 in Seattle.
Maybe a bit biased, but we are partial to Joe Fabris’s #124.
Recovered Running
In addition to commemorating the history of the sport, the Endless Mileage Project also seeks to build the future of track and field in their community, through the Recovered Running program.
The Recovered Running program aims to, “provide athletes and schools with the necessary equipment to begin or continue their athletic careers.” Per the Recovered Running page, they, “work with individuals, businesses, and organizations to source gently used clothes and gear to redistribute to local schools in need.”
Since 2020, Blankenship had provided over 1,000 items to five Oregon high schools on his own. As part of the formalized Recovered Running program, they have collected over 3,000 items so far this year, with over 1,500 of the items coming from collections at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Recovered Running collects and re-distributes new and gently used track & field apparel and equipment to local groups in need
— Endless Mileage Project (@endless_mileage) November 15, 2022
So far this year, Ben has collected over 3,000 pieces of gear — including over 1,500 items from competitors, staff, and workforce at @WCHoregon22 pic.twitter.com/lvxrwCSZPE
On the project, Blankenship says, “This has been a passion project of mine for a long time. It’s a small way to give back to a sport that has provided me with so much. Plus, as a runner who spends so much time in the outdoors, it is a tangible way for us to positively impact the environment around us. It has been a dream to see it all come together.”
The Endless Mileage website, endlessmileage.org, thanks Bob Moran and Bill Shelton for their contributions to the project, stating that without them, “none of this would have been possible.”
