Hoka One One Long Island Mile To Honor Memory Of Defending Champ

Pictured: (l-r) Ford Palmer (third place), Kyle Merber (meet director) and David Torrence (first place) Photo courtesy of Steve Bellone's Office from 2016 race

The third annual Hoka One One Long Island Mile on Wednesday will honor the memory of two-time men's mile champion David Torrence, who passed away one week before he planned to fly out to Long Island and defend his title.

Meet director and Dix Hills native Kyle Merber named the elite men's race in memory of Torrence, his friend and fellow Hoka One One athlete.

Today we lost an amazing athlete and an even greater friend pic.twitter.com/TDrD0mLkUn
— Kyle Merber (@TheRealMerb) August 29, 2017

Torrence, who ran in the 2016 Olympics for Peru, was found dead in a pool in Scottsdale, Arizona, on the morning of Monday, Aug. 28, Arizona Central reports.

Merber will be juggling his role as meet director with elite racer. The former Half Hollow Hills High School West track star set up the event for the third year with help from Smithtown Running Company and his sponsor Hoka One One.

The event begins at 7 p.m. at St. Anthony’s High School Track, located at 275 Wolf Hill Road in South Huntington. The elite races are expected to kick off at 8:30 p.m.

Like the years before, the Hoka One One Long Island Mile allows locals to witness an impressive sub-4 minute mile with their own eyes in the elite men's race as well as a stacked field in the elite women's race. The meet also offers a chance for runners of all ability levels to hop in the open heats to best their mile times.

The field for the David Torrence Mile all have run under the 4-minute mile barrier. Five of those runners are Olympians. The fastest runner is Nick Willis (New Zealand) with a personal best of 3 minutes and 49.8 seconds.

Check out the field below:

The 2017 David Torrence Mile pic.twitter.com/2B6009YPvd
— HOKA One One LI Mile (@HokaLIMile) August 29, 2017

The women's field is arguably even more exciting than the men's race. The field includes five Olympians, including mid-distance runner Brenda Martinez (USA), steeplechaser Genevieve LaCaze (Australia) and 10,000m runner Emily Infeld (USA).

The 2017 Sayville-Smithtown Running Co Mile pic.twitter.com/zrCF7V3dAS
— HOKA One One LI Mile (@HokaLIMile) August 31, 2017

With these runners, records may go down on Wednesday night. The fastest mile ever run on Long Island soil was a time of 3 minutes and 53.39 seconds by Moroccan athlete Noureddine Morceli in 1998. Torrence’s 2015 time of 3 minutes and 53.91 seconds was the fastest mile on Long Island in 17 years and narrowly missed the Long Island record.

The women’s Long Island record is a speedy 4 minutes and 20.29 seconds.

Before the main event, there will community races, an elite race walk race and a sub-elite race. Anyone interested in running in the Hoka One One Long Island Mile can sign up here.

Racers can expect t-shirts, a chance to win prize money, running vendors at the meet and more.

Spectator tickets cost $5. Purchase tickets here.