Boston Marathon

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The 100^th running of the Boston Marathon, 1996

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon sporting event hosted by the city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriot's Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, it has become one of the oldest and most popular professional marathon races in the world. Professional runners from all over the world compete in the Boston Marathon each year, braving the hilly New England terrain and unpredictable weather to take part in the race.

The event attracts an average of about 20,000 registered participants each year. In the 100^th running of the Boston Marathon in 1996, the number of participants reached 38,000. While there is a cash prize awarded to the winners of the marathon, most of the runners take part in the historical marathon just for the joy of participating in such a prestigious race. Indeed, the qualifying standard is high enough that many marathoners aspire to meet it, and doing so is considered an achievement in itself.

Oddly enough, the Boston Marathon's Monday race date is a byproduct of blue laws in Massachusetts. While the laws no longer officially exist, the Monday date has remained a tradition and unique to the sporting calendar of the major marathons.

The Boston Marathon is New England's most widely viewed sporting event. About 500,000 spectators watch the race live annually, and more than 1,100 media members from over 250 outlets are expected to receive media credentials in 2006.

Contents

1 Race
2 History
3 Divisions
4 Rosie Ruiz scandal
5 Heartbreak Hill
6 Dick and Rick Hoyt
7 Deaths
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Race

The Boston Marathon is open to all runners, male and female, from any nation, but they must meet certain qualifying standards. To qualify, a runner must first complete a standard marathon course certified by a national governing body affiliated with the International Association of Athletics Federations within a certain period of time before the date of the desired Boston Marathon (usually within approximately 18 months prior). Prospective runners in the peak age range of 18–34 must run a time of no more than 3:10:00 (3 hours and 10 minutes) if male (approximately 7:15 per mile), or 3:40:00 if female (approximately 8:24 per mile); the qualifying time is adjusted upward as age increases. An additional 59 seconds are allowed for each qualifying time. For example, an 18–34 year old male can still qualify with a time of 3:10:59. Besides the Olympic Trials and the Olympic marathons, Boston is the only major marathon that requires a qualifying time. Thus for many marathoners to qualify for Boston (to BQ) is a goal and achievement in itself, making it a "peoples olympic event".

Traditionally, the race begins at noon (wheelchair race begins at 11:25 AM, and the elite women at 11:31 AM) at the official starting point in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Starting with the 2006 event, the race uses a staggered "wave start," where top seeded runners (the Elite Men group) and a first batch of up to 10,000 runners begin at noon, with a second group starting at 12:30. The course runs through 26.2 miles (42.195 km) of winding roads, following Route 16 and Route 30 into the center of Boston, where the official finish line is located at Copley Square, just beyond the Boston Public Library. For this reason, the MBTA suspends service to the Copley Square stop for the day, and runs increased service to the area. One of the highlights of the race is Wellesley College, where many female students cheer the runners in the so called "scream tunnel". Many runners have lost their focus on the race there.

The Boston Marathon is considered to be one of the more difficult marathon courses because of the infamous Newton, Massachusetts, hills along Commonwealth Avenue, which culminate in Heartbreak Hill near Boston College. Only once has a world record time for marathon running been set in Boston, in 1947. The record time then was 2:25:39, by Yun Bok Suh of South Korea. In 1975, the women's world record was set in Boston at 2:42:24. Ironically, the course is now considered invalid for international records because the finish is substantially lower in elevation than the start.

The race's organizers keep a standard time clock for all entries, though official timekeeping ceases after the six hour mark.

Massachusetts residents are proud of the Marathon, and a yearly tradition among the towns lining the race course has emerged. The local residents gladly welcome the Marathon participants with open arms, and they do their best to provide a supportive, encouraging, friendly atmosphere for the race itself. For the entire stretch of the race, thousands of fans and well-wishers line up along the sides of the course to cheer the runners on, encourage them, and provide free water and snacks to any of the runners. The crowds are even more encouraging for the amateur runners and neophytes taking part in the Marathon for the first time.

Every year, the Boston Red Sox play a home game at Fenway Park, starting at 11:05 a.m. When the game ends, the crowd empties into Kenmore Square to cheer as the runners near the 25 mile (40 km) marker.

History

The Boston Marathon was originally a local event, but its fame and status has attracted runners from all over the world. In recent years, critics of America's professional sports leagues have pointed to the dominance of foreign-born athletes in the event (especially runners from Kenya) to back their arguments that American professional running is lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of producing quality athletes.

For most of its history, the Boston Marathon was a free event, and the only prize awarded for winning the race was a wreath woven from olive branches. However, corporate-sponsored cash prizes began to be awarded in the 1980s, when professional athletes began to refuse to run the race without cash awards. The first cash prize for winning the marathon was awarded in 1986.

Women were not allowed to enter the Boston Marathon until 1972. In 1966, Roberta Gibb was the first woman to unofficially run the Boston Marathon. In 1967, Katherine Switzer, who had registered as "K Switzer", was the first woman to run with a race number. She finished although Boston Marathon officials tried to forcibly remove her from the race.

Divisions

The Boston Marathon does not only offer running divisions for both men and women. In 1975, a tradition of offering racing opportunities to those with disabilities and impairments began when one wheelchair racer decided to take the challenge and complete the entire distance of the marathon. Since then, three new divisions have emerged, including a push rim wheelchair division, a visually impaired/blind division, and a mobility impaired division. Similar to the running divisions, a set of realistic qualifying times has been developed for these divisions to ensure the continuation of competitive excellence for which the Boston Marathon is so widely acclaimed. In 1986, the Boston Athletic Association, which is responsible for running the event, introduced prize money into the push rim wheelchair division and made this purse the highest purse in the history of the sport. To date, more than 1,000 people with different disabilities and impairments have participated in the wheelchair division, with the other divisions gaining popularity each year. The wheelchair division frequently gains a great deal of national and international attention considering the performances in the Boston Marathon are often record-breaking performances that demonstrate the continued evolution and advancement in the sport.

Rosie Ruiz scandal

Scandal came to the Boston Marathon in 1980 when amateur runner Rosie Ruiz came from out of nowhere to win the women's race. Marathon officials became suspicious when it was found Ruiz didn't appear in race videotapes until near the end of the race. A subsequent investigation concluded (though Ruiz never admitted to cheating) that Ruiz had skipped most of the race and blended into the crowd about one mile from the finish line, where she then ran to her apparent victory. Ruiz was officially disqualified, and the winner was proclaimed to be Canadian Jacqueline Gareau.

Heartbreak Hill

Heartbreak Hill is an ascent over one-half mile of the Boston Marathon course, between the 20th and 21st mile marks. It is the last of four "Newton hills", which begin at the 17.5 mile mark. The Newton hills confound contestants (out of proportion to their modest elevation gain) by forcing a late climb on muscles battered by the downhill trend of the race to that point. Heartbreak Hill itself rises only 80 vertical feet, but is especially dreaded because of its position at the point on a marathon course at which muscle glycogen stores are likely to run out—an event referred to by marathoners as "hitting the wall".

Although it is widely believed, and often reported, that the nickname "Heartbreak Hill" refers to the stretch's winnowing effects on generations of Boston Marathon participants, it actually originated with an event in the 1936 race. On this stretch, defending champion John A. Kelley caught race leader Ellison "Tarzan" Brown, giving Brown a consolatory pat on the shoulder as he passed. His competitive drive apparently stoked by this gesture, Tarzan Brown rallied, pulled away from Kelley, and went on to win—in the words of Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason, "breaking Kelley's heart". [THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE BOSTON MARATHON] (Blog)

Dick and Rick Hoyt

One of the most recognized duos each year at the Boston Marathon are Rick and Dick Hoyt. Dick is the father of Rick, who has cerebral palsy due to brain damage at birth. While doctors originally said he would never have a shot at a normal life and thought that institutionalizing Rick was the best option, Dick and his wife disagreed and raised him like an ordinary child. Eventually a computer device was developed that helped Rick communicate with his family and the family learned of one of his biggest passions: sports. Eventually Dick and Rick started competing in charity runs, with Dick pushing Rick in a wheelchair. The father and son began to enjoy racing so much that they started entering marathons and even triathlons, with Dick towing Rick in a little boat during the swim and carrying him on the front of his bike during the cycling portion. Dick and Rick have competed in 64 marathons and over 200 triathlons and finish with competitive times, often faster than 90% of the pack. The team completed their 25th Boston Marathon in 2006 to help raise money for Easter Seals, when Dick was 64 and Rick was 44. When asked about their motivation to continue racing, they both say that they hope to prove to people all over the world that disabled individuals should not be left in the corner and forgotten about, but rather included so that they can have the life experiences others are so lucky to have.[Team Hoyt Homepage]

Deaths

2002 - Cynthia Lucero, 28

References

External links

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