59 Fun Facts About Boston Marathon

In which town does the Boston Marathon start?

Hopkinton, about 26 miles west of the city, has hosted the start since 1924, when the course was lengthened and the starting line moved from Metcalf's Mill in Ashland.

Where in Boston is the finish line?

Boylston Street in the Back Bay hosts the finish line; runners reach it through the famous 'right on Hereford, left on Boylston' turns that close the course.

On which holiday is the Boston Marathon traditionally held?

Patriots' Day, the Massachusetts holiday marking the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord, has been observed on the third Monday of April since 1969, and the race is run that day, known locally as Marathon Monday.

In which year was the first Boston Marathon run?

1897 saw the first running on 19 April, organised by the Boston Athletic Association with a field of 15 starters on a course from Ashland into the city.

Which event inspired the founding of the Boston race?

The 1896 Athens Olympics marathon, won by Spyridon Louis, so impressed B.A.A. team manager John Graham that the association, itself founded in 1887, organised its own marathon.

What distinction does Boston hold among the world's big road races?

Oldest annual marathon is Boston's distinction: it has been staged in some form every year since its founding, through both world wars and the Depression, with only a virtual edition in 2020.

Who won the first Boston Marathon, leading a field of just 15 runners?

John J. McDermott of New York won the inaugural race; he had also won the first marathon held on American soil, from Stamford to New York, the previous autumn.

How long was the original 1897 course from Metcalf's Mill in Ashland?

24.5 miles was the original distance from Metcalf's Mill in Ashland to Boston; the course was lengthened in 1924 to the 26 miles 385 yards the 1908 Olympics had established.

In which year did the Boston Marathon award its first cash prize?

1986 was the first year with prize money, after John Hancock Financial became sponsor; Rob de Castella and Ingrid Kristiansen each took home a cash award and a Mercedes-Benz.

How many cities and towns does the course pass through?

Eight cities and towns host the course, which starts in a small Middlesex County town and reaches Boston only for its final stretch after passing through Newton and Brookline.

Near which school does Heartbreak Hill crest?

Boston College's campus at Chestnut Hill sits at the crest of Heartbreak Hill, the last of the Newton hills, which runners reach just after mile 20 on Commonwealth Avenue.

How much does Heartbreak Hill actually rise vertically?

88 feet of vertical gain over about 0.4 miles is all Heartbreak Hill offers; its reputation comes from timing, arriving around mile 20 when runners' glycogen stores are most depleted.

Whose heart was broken on the hill in 1936 after he patted a rival on the shoulder?

John A. Kelley, the 1935 champion, patted Ellison 'Tarzan' Brown on the shoulder as he passed him on the Newton hills; Brown rallied and won, and sportswriter Jerry Nason coined the name Heartbreak Hill.

Whose students form the Scream Tunnel about half a mile before halfway?

Wellesley College students line the course near mile 12.5, just before the halfway mark, in a tradition more than a century old; runners say the Scream Tunnel can be heard a mile away.

Which woman ran the entire 1966 race unregistered after the director refused her entry?

Bobbi Gibb hid in the bushes near the start and ran the whole 1966 race in about 3:21 after director Will Cloney had told her women were physiologically incapable of running 26 miles.

Which official tried to rip Kathrine Switzer's number off during the 1967 race?

Jock Semple, the B.A.A.'s race co-director, lunged at Switzer early in the race shouting for her to get out before her boyfriend shouldered him away; the two later became friends.

What bib number did Kathrine Switzer wear in 1967, later the name of her non-profit?

261 was the number on the bib Switzer entered for as 'K. V. Switzer'; photographs of an official grabbing at it made the number famous, and she later named her 261 Fearless foundation after it.

In which year were women first officially allowed to enter the Boston Marathon?

1972 was the first year the B.A.A. accepted women's entries, after the Amateur Athletic Union dropped its ban on women racing long distances; every woman who started that year finished.

Who was the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon?

Nina Kuscsik won the first official women's race in 3:10:26, having lobbied the Amateur Athletic Union to lift its distance limit on women's racing.

Which impostor crossed the 1980 finish line first in the women's race and was disqualified?

Rosie Ruiz crossed the line in an apparent 2:31:56 but had jumped into the race about half a mile from the finish; she was stripped of the title within days.

Who was declared the 1980 women's winner after the impostor was disqualified?

Jacqueline Gareau of Quebec was confirmed as the 1980 champion about a week after the race; her 2:34:28 stood as a course record at the time.

Where had the 1980 impostor reportedly been spotted during her qualifying New York City Marathon?

On the subway: freelance photographer Susan Morrow said she met the impostor riding the train during the 1979 New York City Marathon and walked with her to the finish area, where she was then recorded as a finisher.

How many Boston Marathons did Clarence DeMar win?

Seven victories, from 1911 to 1930, made Clarence DeMar the race's most prolific champion; he also took bronze in the marathon at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

How many Boston Marathons did Kelley the Elder, winner in 1935 and 1945, compete in?

61 starts between 1928 and 1992 made Kelley the Elder the race's great fixture; he finished 58 of them, won twice and ran the Olympic marathon in 1936 and 1948.

Two-time winner Ellison Tarzan Brown descended from the royal family of which tribe?

Narragansett royalty was his lineage: Ellison 'Tarzan' Brown of Rhode Island won in 1936 and 1939 and ran the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

How many times did Bill Rodgers win the Boston Marathon?

Four Boston wins came in 1975, 1978, 1979 and 1980 for Bill Rodgers, who also won New York four straight times from 1976 to 1979.

Which 1968 winner, then a Wesleyan student, later edited Runner's World?

Amby Burfoot won in 1968 while a Wesleyan senior, rooming with a young Bill Rodgers, and went on to edit Runner's World for decades.

Which Maine runner won Boston in 1979 as a relative unknown, then took Olympic gold in 1984?

Joan Benoit, a Bowdoin College senior from Cape Elizabeth, won in 2:35:15 in 1979, then set a world best in 1983 and took the first Olympic women's marathon gold in Los Angeles in 1984.

Which German woman won Boston in 1994, 1995 and 1996?

Uta Pippig, running for Germany after leaving East Berlin in 1990, won in 1994, 1995 and 1996; her 2:21:45 in 1994 was then the third-fastest women's marathon ever.

Which Kenyan won Boston four times, including 2003 and 2006–2008?

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot won in 2003 and then 2006, 2007 and 2008; his 2:07:14 in 2006 beat Cosmas Ndeti's 12-year-old course record by a single second.

Which Kenyan woman won Boston four times and Chicago twice?

Catherine Ndereba won Boston in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005 and Chicago in 2000 and 2001, where her 2:18:47 in 2001 was a world record; she also took two world titles and two Olympic silvers.

Why was Geoffrey Mutai's 2:03:02 in 2011 not ratified as a world record?

The course's drop and tailwind disqualify Boston: its net descent exceeds the 1 m per km limit and its point-to-point layout separates start and finish by more than half the race distance, so the IAAF could not ratify it.

How far does the course drop from start to finish?

459 feet is the net drop, from about 490 feet above sea level at the start to near sea level at the finish; the start also lies far west of the finish, so a westerly wind helps.

How many spectators were killed by the two bombs at the 2013 finish line?

Three spectators died: Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi and a child, Martin Richard; an estimated 264 people were injured and the race was halted with many runners still on the course.

What kind of homemade devices were detonated in the 2013 attack?

Pressure cooker bombs packed with nails and ball bearings, hidden in backpacks, went off 12 seconds and about 210 yards apart near the finish line.

Where was Dzhokhar Tsarnaev found hiding after the 2013 manhunt?

In a boat in a backyard on Franklin Street, Watertown, the wounded Tsarnaev was found on the evening of 19 April 2013 after a resident noticed the boat's cover disturbed; police had searched a 20-block area door to door.

Which American won the 2014 men's race, the first American man to do so since 1983?

Meb Keflezighi, then 38, won in 2:08:37 with the names of the 2013 victims written on his bib; he had also won New York in 2009 and taken Olympic silver in 2004.

Which American woman won the rain-soaked 2018 race, the first US woman to win in 33 years?

Desiree Linden won in 2:39:55 through cold rain and headwinds, the slowest winning time since 1978, having nearly dropped out early before waiting to help Shalane Flanagan after a bathroom stop.

Which South African won ten Boston Marathon wheelchair titles between 2001 and 2014?

Ernst van Dyk won ten wheelchair titles between 2001 and 2014; his 2004 course record of just over 1 hour 18 minutes was more than 50 minutes faster than that year's fastest runner.

Who was the first person to officially race the Boston Marathon in a wheelchair?

Bob Hall was given a number in 1975 on the promise that he would finish under 3:00, and did so in 2:58; the official wheelchair division followed, with a women's race from 1977.

Which astronaut ran the 2007 Boston Marathon as an official entrant aboard the ISS?

Sunita Williams, raised in Massachusetts and qualified at the Houston Marathon, ran the 2007 race on the station's treadmill in 4:23:10, the first marathon run in space.

What replaced the marathon in 1918 because of World War I?

A military relay race replaced the marathon in 1918, with ten-man teams from army and navy camps running legs of the course; the team from Camp Devens won.

What qualifying time did men aged 18–34 need for the 2026 Boston Marathon?

2:55 was the men's 18-34 standard for 2026, five minutes tougher than the previous 3:00; women and non-binary runners in that age group needed 3:25.

Which mythical animal is the symbol of the Boston Athletic Association?

Unicorn is the B.A.A. emblem, chosen by the club in its early years as a symbol of the pursuit of the unattainable ideal; it appears on the finisher's medal and the race logo.

How many official entrants did the 1996 centennial race have, then a world-record field?

38,708 official entrants made the 1996 centennial the largest marathon field to that date, and 35,868 of them finished.

Which team plays a home game at 11:05 a.m. every Marathon Monday?

Red Sox home games on Marathon Monday date back to the early 1900s; the 11:05 a.m. first pitch lets fans leaving Fenway Park catch runners passing through Kenmore Square around mile 25.

How many times did Dick and Rick Hoyt enter the Boston Marathon?

32 Boston Marathons were completed by Team Hoyt between 1980 and 2014, Dick pushing his son Rick, who had cerebral palsy, in a racing wheelchair; a bronze statue of the pair stands near the start.

Roughly how many spectators line the Boston Marathon route each year?

500,000 spectators is the usual estimate along the 26.2-mile route, making the race New England's most widely viewed sporting event, with about 1,000 credentialed media covering it.

In which month was the 2021 Boston Marathon eventually run after being moved from April?

October 11, 2021 was the rescheduled date, the first autumn running in the race's history, after the 2020 edition had been cancelled in person and replaced by a virtual alternative.

What name did Boston give to unregistered runners without a bib, whom it long tolerated?

Bandits, runners without a bib who started behind the official waves, were tolerated for decades; after the 2013 bombing the B.A.A. banned them ahead of the 2014 race and added fencing at the start.

Where near the finish line is the Boston Marathon Memorial, installed for the 100th running?

Copley Square, a block from the finish, holds the 1996 memorial: a circle of granite blocks around a medallion tracing the course and its elevation, with the names of the winners carved around it.

What number appears bib-style on the sleeve of Boston's marathon-inspired baseball City Connect uniform?

617 is Boston's area code, worn bib-style on the sleeve of the yellow-and-blue City Connect kit that the city's baseball team debuted in April 2021 for Marathon Monday weekend.

How quickly did the 20,000 qualifier spots for the 2011 race sell out in 2010?

About eight hours was all it took on registration day in autumn 2010 for the 20,000 qualifier places to go; the rush led the B.A.A. to introduce rolling registration by qualifying margin and tougher standards from 2013.

Which Swiss racer won the men's wheelchair race in 2023 in 1:17:06, then a course record?

Marcel Hug won in 1:17:06 in 2023, a course record he lowered to 1:15:33 the next year; compatriot Manuela Schär set the women's mark of 1:28:17 in 2017.

Which South Korean set a men's marathon world record of 2:25:39 at Boston in 1947?

Suh Yun-Bok, coached by 1936 Olympic champion Sohn Kee-chung, ran 2:25:39 in 1947 despite being knocked down by a dog on the course, taking about a minute off the world record.

Who was named 2014 women's champion after Rita Jeptoo was disqualified for doping?

Bizunesh Deba of Ethiopia was elevated to 2014 champion after Jeptoo's doping disqualification; her 2:19:59 stood as the course record until Sharon Lokedi ran 2:17:22 in 2025.

Which B.A.A. president barred Korean runners from the 1951 race during the Korean War?

Walter A. Brown, the long-time B.A.A. president who also founded the Boston Celtics, said Koreans should be defending their country rather than training for marathons.

Which Japanese group ran the marathon and then played taiko drums at the finish, starting in 1975?

Ondekoza, the taiko troupe founded on Sado Island in 1969, ran the 1975 race and then performed at the finish on a giant odaiko drum; the group repeated the stunt in later years.

Who became the first female double amputee to finish the Boston Marathon, in 2016?

Jami Marseilles, who lost both legs below the knee to frostbite after being stranded in a Sierra Nevada snowstorm in 1987, completed the 2016 course on running blades, the first female double amputee to finish.