Peabody's Heather MacLean Wins New Balance Grand Prix Mile In Boston

BOSTON, MA — Heather MacLean was not afraid to hype up the the spectacle that many of her family and friends were about to watch as the U.S. Olympian raced at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday.

She certaintly lived up to that hype as the Peabody High alumna helped set the pace early, then stormed back after being passed late, to win the mile championship in a time of 4:23.45 that is her fastest ever and the fastest run in the world so far this year.

"A lot of my friends who are here have never been to a track meet (of this magnitude) before," she told reporters after the race. "I was telling them that this will change your perspective on the sport seeing this experience. Because something people think about the sport, watching super long events, is not that fun and yada, yada, yada. I said this will change your experience. It's really an interactive experience here."

MacLean, who was the clear rooting interest of the entire crowd during her race, said she had a whole row of the stands filled with family members.

"If you see little kids running around here they are probably related to me," she said.

She said she had been visualizing the crowd during her workouts and that she "almost felt at peace" as she lined up for the race with the large crowd of well-wishes.

"I am so happy to be here today," she said.

MacLean reached the semifinals at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, which were delayed to 2021 amid the COVID-19 health crisis, while a watch party was held in the Leather City Common for her first Olympic race. She was then feted as part of a Heather MacLean Day in Peabody late in the summer.

She is the defending national champion in the 1,500 but on Saturday also claimed the crown at the mile distance — which is about 100 meters longer.

She said her goal was to race with more "initiative" and press the pace early, which she did, but she still had enough left late after she was passed by Canada's Lucia Stafford.

"I wanted the win today," she said. "I can't settle for second if I've got more in the tank."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)