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27 unusual facts about Boston marathon


Around the Bay Road Race

It is not marathon length, nor has it continuously run (thus the Boston Marathon, founded in April 1897, is the longest running marathon, and the nearby Buffalo Turkey Trot, established November 1896, is the longest continually running footrace).

Běchovice

It has been held in early autumn each year without interruption since 1897 (Boston Marathon being the only other running event of comparable tradition).

Bob Lobel

Lobel has also done some play-by-play work, calling WBZ's annual broadcast of the Boston Marathon, Boston Celtics games from 1989–1993, Boston College Eagles football games in 1986, New England Patriots preseason games from 1985–1991, and two NFL games for NBC in 1985.

College Church

Celebrity athletes including Jean Driscoll, winner of the women's wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon, have supported this College Church fundraiser by participating.

Craig Vetter

One of these chairs took Jim Knaub to a first place finish and world record at the 1982 Boston Marathon.

Dick Beardsley

Dick Beardsley (born March 21, 1956) is an American long-distance runner best known for his close finish with Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon.

Fat March

The show focused on twelve individuals walking from the starting line of the Boston Marathon, over 550 miles to Washington, D.C., for a prize of US$1.2 million.

George Walker Weld

George Walker Weld (1840-1905), youngest son of William Fletcher Weld and member of the Weld Family of Boston, was a founding member of the Boston Athletic Association (organizers of today's Boston Marathon) and the financier of the Weld Boathouse, a landmark on the Charles River.

Goodloe Byron

According to nutritionist and longevity research pioneer Nathan Pritikin, Byron had run six Boston Marathons, with a best time of 3:28:40, and had not smoked for 25 years.

Hec Clouthier

He is an avid marathon runner and has run 28 marathons including the Boston Marathon in 2005, 2009, 2010 and the New York Marathon in 2007, 2011.

Iten

Alumni include Ibrahim Hussein, winner of three Boston Marathons and one New York City Marathon; Peter Rono, a 1988 Olympic gold medalist at 1,500 meters; Wilson Boit Kipketer, a 1997 world champion and 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase; Matthew Birir, 1992 Olympic gold medalist at the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and David Rudisha, 2012 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder at 800m.

Iván Castro

In 2008, he participated in the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon in New Mexico, the Boston Marathon and the U.S. Air Force Marathon.

Jock Semple

In 1967, he attained world-wide notoriety as a race official for the Boston Marathon, when he attempted to tear off the number of Kathrine Switzer, who was officially entered despite a ban on female competitors.

Jonathan S. Bush

The episode chronicled a group of people from different athletic backgrounds who trained over the course of a year to run in the 2007 Boston Marathon.

Massachusetts Route 30

Between Boston and the Charles River it is known as Commonwealth Avenue, along most of this route is part of the course of the Boston Marathon.

Massachusetts Route 85

It intersects Route 135 at the center of town, less than a quarter mile west of the start line of the Boston Marathon.

Menstrual taboo

In 1996, during the running of the 100th Boston Marathon, Uta Pippig, the first woman to cross the finish line, had visible menstrual blood and severe menstrual cramps.

Million Calorie March: The Movie

Additionally he formed a running team to train for the 109th Boston Marathon with pledges also going to Generation Excel.

Rick Roeber

He subsidized his "shod" running with barefoot running for the next six months, until April 2004 when he ran the Boston Marathon barefoot.

Riverfront Trail, Greater Moncton

The trail, along with several Moncton streets, is used annually for Legs For Literacy, a Boston Marathon qualifying race also featuring a half marathon, 10km, and 5km.

Shirley Reilly

She came in fourth at the 2010 Boston Marathon with a time of 1:57:23 hours and set a personal best of 1:41:01 hours at the 2011 race, finishing as runner-up behind Wakako Tsuchida.

She defeated Tsuchida at the 2012 Boston Marathon, beating her at the line by a margin of one second to win the Boston Marathon title and set a best of 1:37:36 hours.

Spirit of the Marathon

Ryan Bradley and Lori O'Connor are both married young professionals; Bradley is a veteran marathoner who hopes to earn a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon, and O'Connor is running her first marathon.

Spirit of the Marathon II

Julie, from Los Angeles, began running after a divorce and has completed many marathons, including qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and plans to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks hoping to raise both awareness of and $1 million in donations for the fight against pancreatic cancer, which killed her father.

United States Air Force Marathon

The Air Force Marathon is a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon.

Walter Bingham

In 1963, while covering the Boston Marathon for Sports Illustrated, it dawned on Bingham that here was a major sporting event which the average man could enter.

William D. Law

Law is an avid runner and has completed over two dozen marathons, including five Boston Marathons.


Fitch Senior High School

John J. Kelley (1930–2011), winner of the 1957 Boston Marathon, member of two U.S. Olympic Marathon teams and a coach at the school

Franz Nietlispach

He has won the men's wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon five times.

Johnny Kelley

In 1993, a statue of Kelley to commemorate him was erected near the City Hall of Newton, Massachusetts, on the Boston Marathon course, one hill and about one mile prior to the foot of Heartbreak Hill.

Phoenix Media/Communications Group

The sports and magazine division publishes the official yearbooks for the Boston Celtics, the Boston Bruins, and the Boston Marathon, in addition to program guides for the Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts, and the Bank of America Pavilion summer music series.

Timothy Cherigat

Timothy Cherigat (born December 29, 1976 in Chepkorio) is a long-distance runner from Kenya, who was the winner of the 108th Boston Marathon held in 2004.

World Marathon Majors

It comprises six annual races (five 2006–2011, four 2012) for the cities of Tokyo (starting in 2013), Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City (2006–11, 2013–), a biennial race, the IAAF World Championships Marathon, and a quadrennial race, the Olympic Games Marathon.