Meet our Team

Thom Gilligan, CTC
President and Founder
Thom founded Marathon Tours in 1979 and has been the frontrunner in destination marathon travel ever since. His previous professional experience with British Airways, Air Canada and a tour wholesaler enabled Thom to start a career that combined his knowledge of the travel business with his passions for running and adventure.

Named the top specialist in running-related travel by Condé Nast Traveler magazine for the past seven years, Thom has also been featured in Runner’s World, The Wall Street Journal and on the cover of Travel Agent magazine.

Thom personally leads groups to marathons in Bermuda, Kenya, Madagascar, France as well as Antarctica where he is the race director and expedition leader for the Antarctica Marathon. 
A former president of the Greater Boston Track Club, Thom has run 62 marathons around the world with a personal best of 2:30:42. An avid golfer, he holds a 3 handicap and admits that he is hopelessly addicted.

Scott Guillemette
General Manager
Scott has been providing specialized travel services to Marathon Tours clients for over 12 years. He has continued to hone his professional expertise by completing numerous travel specialist courses including those for Maui, Bermuda and Italy.

Scott is trip manager for the Honolulu, Maui, Reggae, London, Rome , Florence , Venice and Reykjavik marathons. He is also Marathons Tours ’ main liaison for charity groups who seek international travel services.

Married to Kristi since 1999, Scott enjoys running and watching his six-year-old son participate in soccer, baseball and swimming.  

Kelly Allen

Sales Manager
Kelly found Marathon Tours the day she finished her 5th Boston Marathon.  Some might say she literally ran into us!  With six years of professional experience in international group travel and sales management, and a passion for running, she is a great addition to the Marathon Tours Team. 

A graduate of Bowdoin College, Kelly lettered as a springboard diver. Her spirit of adventure led her to Australia for a semester and she delayed her return to work as a tour coordinator for a travel company that specialized in tours for surfers.

Kelly currently manages marathon trips for Boston, Easter Island, and Dublin.  Please visit her at the Marathon Tours booth at your next expo or say hello when you need a hotel stay for Boston. She is also looking to improve her PR of 3:38.

Lee Shea
Trip Coordinator and Group Leader
Born and raised in China, Lee Shea has lived and worked in the United States since 1985 and has been with Marathon Tours since 2006. Prior to coming to Marathon Tours, Lee was a program development manager for Asia Holidays where he marketed China as a major tourism destination to American consumers.

Lee’s in-depth knowledge of China and his fluency in Mandarin have made him an invaluable asset to Marathon Tours’ trip to the Great Wall Marathon and extensions to Xian, Hong Kong and other Chinese destinations.

In his spare time Lee enjoys cooking and importing Chinese antiques and furnishings.

Janie Owen, CTC, DS
Trip Coordinator
A certified travel consultant and destination specialist, Janie has traveled the world and has been professionally involved in the travel business for over 28 years.

Janie is trip manager for the Medoc, Paris, Berlin and Bermuda marathons.

A native of Hungary, Janie has skied in over 40 major ski areas in Europe and North America. She enjoys gourmet cooking, oil painting and showing her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, “Diva.” She met her husband, Tom, 34 years ago when she ran over his skis on a slope in Switzerland.

Inna Podshivalova
Trip Coordinator
Inna joined Marathon Tours in 2007 after gaining valuable experience working for Fairmont Hotels and an educational travel company.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Inna caught the travel bug early in life, traveling to Turkey, Italy and Greece for summer vacations with her family, starting at age nine. Fascinated with Europe’s rich history and culture, she spent a summer in England when she was 12 and studied abroad in Spain for a year in 2004. A Boston resident since 2000, Inna has visited 35 different countries and, of course, wants to see even more.

Inna currently is trip coordinator for the Stockholm and Madagascar marathons and has traveled to the Maui and Bermuda marathon race weekends to gain valuable first-hand knowledge of the destinations, accommodations and events.

Even Inna’s hobbies have a travel-related flavor to them as she enjoys Latin dancing and is working to improve on her already-fluent Spanish.