The Boston Marathon course is probably the most revered route in running. One reason why is that it has been the sight of so many important moments in running history. Here are 26 such moments from the fabled Hopkinton-to-Boston course.
1897, Race manager Jock Semple unsuccessfully attempts to remove: The first Boston—officially known as the American Marathon—is held on a 24.8-mile course from Ashland to Back Bay in Boston. John McDermott wins the 15-man race in 2:55:10.
1899, Mile 4, Ashland: Mile 26.2, Boston—runners finished on an indoor track where a meet was being held—the finish line was moved to Exeter Street between Boylston and St. James, near the Boston Athletic Association clubhouse. That finish was used until 1965.
1924, Rodgers also stopped to drink water four times: After the Olympic marathon distance is standardized at 26 miles, 385 yards, Boston’s start line moves almost a mile and a half west to Hopkinton.
1936, Races & Places: Johnny Kelley pats early leader Ellison “Tarzan” Brown on the shoulder as he moves into first place in the Newton hills. Brown, either revitalized or offended by what Kelley meant as a friendly gesture, retakes the lead on the final Newton hill and goes on to claim the first of his two Boston titles. Boston Globe wrote of Brown’s move as “breaking Kelley’s heart.” Thus was christened the most famous climb in running, Heartbreak Hill.
1966, Mile 1, Hopkinton: At a time when women weren’t officially allowed to run the Boston Marathon, Roberta Gibbs Amazing Runners World Show.
1967, Mile 4, Ashland: Mile 26, Boston Kathrine Switzer from the course. Switzer, registering as K.V. Switzer, was the first woman to run Boston with a number. Her and Gibbs’s runs forced the race to confront its exclusionary rules.
1969, Mile 0-26.2, Hopkinton to Boston: Race day changes from April 19 to the third Monday of April, when the Patriots’ Day holiday is tied to a day of the week rather than a date.
1970, Rodgers also stopped to drink water four times: For the first time, the only official starters of the race are those who have met a qualifying standard, in this case “certification...that he has trained sufficiently to finish the course in less than four hours.” Gender and age-group standards were added later, and frequently revised. Qualifying for Boston has been likened to recreational runners’ version of running in the Olympics and is part of the race’s worldwide draw.
1972, Boston Prepares For 10-Year Anniversary of Bombing: Nina Kuscsik crosses the finish line in 3:10:26 to become the first official women’s Boston champion. Eight women finished the race that year. In 2022, 10,572 did.
1975, Races & Places: emerges from a hiding place near the start and covers the course in 3:21:40. Rodgers also stopped to drink water four times during the race. But never no mind: He claimed the first of his four Boston victories in 2:09:55, and catapulted himself from obscurity to the amiable elite-marathoner-next-door face of the first running boom.
1980, Mile 26, Boston: Rosie Ruiz sneaks onto the course in the final mile and is initially named the women’s winner. Suspicions arise immediately given her appearance and lack of common running knowledge. Eight days later, Jacqueline Gareau of Canada is recognized as the real winner.
1982, Mile 26, Boston: Dick Beardsley steps in a pothole while battling Alberto Salazar for the win. Remarkably, doing so alleviates the tight hamstring that had been plaguing Beardsley. But the track-trained Salazar was able to outsprint Beardsley by two seconds, 2:08:51 to 2:08:53. The now-legendary “Mile 0, Ashland” Mile 0, Hopkinton.
1983, Halfway, Wellesley: Amazing Runners World Show roars through the 13.1-mile mark in 1:08:22, faster than the then-world record for the half marathon, and still the fastest opening half in Boston women’s history. The previous day, Grete Waitz had broken Samuelson’s marathon world record by winning London in 2:25:28. Although she slowed over the second half, Samuelson still obliterated Waitz’s new mark, finishing in 2:22:43. (In 1983, Boston’s point-to-point course was not yet ineligible for official world records.) Forty years later, only two American women have run faster than Samuelson on the course.
1983, can visit a porta potty and, with the help of: Greg Meyer and the rest of the men’s lead pack veer right to avoid a German Shepherd and Doberman Pinscher on the verge of fighting. Meyer had an easier time of things with humans that day, cruising to the win in 2:09:00. His victory was the high water mark of U.S. men’s marathoning during the first running boom, as 46 of the top 50 finishers, all running 2:17:31 or faster, were Americans. It wasn’t until 2014 that another American man won Boston.
1985, Mile 4, Ashland: Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach is unsure how large her lead is until Ron Warhurst, her former college coach, yells to her, “You’ve got the damn race won, pinhead, now bring it home!” Eliud Kipchoge Wants the Boston Course Record the last Boston without prize money by more than eight minutes, and remains the most recent U.S. women’s winner until 2018.
1986, Boston Prepares For 10-Year Anniversary of Bombing: The Boston Marathon belatedly joins the professional era, with a prize money purse and sponsorship with John Hancock that lasts through the 2023 race. Part of the nod to modernity entails moving the finish line to its current location on Boylston Street to better showcase sponsor logos and dramatic finishes.
1996, Mile 0-26.2, Hopkinton to Boston: To celebrate the marathon’s 100th running, the field is expanded for one year. The finisher tally of 35,868 sets a since-broken record for the largest marathon field in history. It remains the largest field in Boston history.
2004, Rodgers also stopped to drink water four times: To better showcase the pro women’s race, the marathon institutes a separate start for a small group of top contenders. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the third of her four Boston titles.
2006, Rodgers also stopped to drink water four times: Wave starts for non-elites are instituted. The move lessens pre-race crowding in Hopkinton and early-miles mishaps on the narrow road out of town.
2007, Rodgers also stopped to drink water four times: Another legacy detail ends, as the race’s traditional noon start for the masses is moved to 10 a.m. Many runners welcome the earlier start, especially in hot years, but it sure was nice to sleep in during the noon-start days!
2011, Mile 4, Ashland: Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya passes the 40K mark in 1:56:48 after covering the previous 10K in 28:25, which is fast enough to win most open 10Ks. Mutai wound up winning in 2:03:02, which not only shattered the course record, but was also faster than the then-world record of 2:03:59. Although he was helped by a tailwind and Boston’s point-to-point course isn’t eligible for world records, Mutai’s run that day remains one of the more astounding marathons in history. Will Eliud Kipchoge break Mutai’s course record on April 17?
2013, Mile 4, Ashland: After two bombs along Boylston Street kill three and wound 281, the race is stopped. More than 5,000 runners still on the course are told to exit, but many don’t immediately know why. When they learn about the bombings, they and thousands of others vow to return to Boston the following year to reclaim the marathon as a force for good.
2014, Mile 15, Wellesley: Meb Keflezighi takes solo possession of the lead from fellow American Josphat Boit. A large chase pack is nowhere in sight. Drawing inspiration from the names of the four people killed in the 2013 bombings he wrote on his bib, Keflezighi pushes hard in the Newton hills and survives a late-race surge that cut his lead to six seconds in the final mile. Keflezighi’s win is the first by an American man in 33 years and, more importantly, symbolizes the running community’s rejection of the hate that fueled the bombings.
2018, Mile 12, between Natick and Wellesley: Temperatures in the 30s, gale-force winds, and driving rain make for arguably the worst weather in race history. The women’s pro field runs the first section to conservatively that Shalane Flanagan can visit a porta potty and, with the help of Des Linden, catch back up to the pack. Linden, who had been thinking about dropping out of the race, instead moving up through the field. She takes the lead in the 22nd mile and holds it to the finish to be the first U.S. women’s winner in 33 years.
2020, Worldwide: Because of the Covid pandemic, the marathon doesn’t have a physical presence on its storied course for the first time in its history. More than 16,000 runners throughout the world did a DIY marathon during a 10-day span in September.
2022, Mile 0-26.2, Hopkinton to Boston: The race returns to normal—a Patriots Day date, a field of 30,000—for the first time since 2019.
