Countdown to Boston: 26.2 Random Facts About the Boston Marthon: Part 2

For those of you who are counting, it's 4 days until the 119th Boston Marathon. My brain is currently all over the place as I try to wrap it around the fact that in roughly 96 hours, I will be toeing the line in Hopkinton. Since I'm a little scatterbrained right now, rather than providing you with a perfectly coherent post--though let's be honest, I almost never do that--I thought I would just share some random trivia about the oldest marathon in the U.S.

I present you part two of my 26.2 Random Facts About the Boston Marathon. If you missed Part 1, check it out here.
 
14. Technically, the Boston Marathon is only on its fourth race director. Will Cloney became the first official race director in 1946. Prior to that, the marathon was organized by a committee. Cloney served as race director until 1982, simultaneously serving as director of the B.A.A.'s annual indoor track meet. Tim Kilduff took on the role briefly, from 1983 to 1984, followed by Guy Morse from 1985 to 2000. Current director Dave McGillivray took over in 2001. 

15. In the 1950s it cost race organizers less than $2,500 a year to put on the marathon. Today its annual budget is in the millions of dollars. Talk about inflation!

16. Each year the Red Sox hold a day game on Patriots' Day starting at 11:05 a.m. Up until 1953 when the National League Boston Braves left for Atlanta, the two teams alternated the Patriots' Day game every other year.

17. John Hancock became the race's title sponsor in 1986, necessitating a move of the finish line which had been in front of the Prudential Center, home of one of John Hancock's main competitors.

18. Only one B.A.A. member has ever won the Boston Marathon. John J. Kelley (John "The Younger") won the race in 1957, the first, last, and only member of the Boston Athletic Association to do so.

19. In 1897, the B.A.A. awarded finisher medals to everyone who completed the race--all ten of them.

20. The B.A.A. began awarding medals to all finishers again in 1983. Prior to that, only the top runners received medals, although the number of medals awarded ranged from 25 to more than 100.

Countdown to Boston: 26.2 Random Facts About the Boston Marthon: Part 1

For those of you who are counting, it's 5 days until the 119th Boston Marathon. My brain is currently all over the place as I try to wrap it around the fact that in roughly 120 hours, I will be toeing the line in Hopkinton. Since I'm a little scatterbrained right now, rather than providing you with a perfectly coherent post--though let's be honest, I almost never do that--I thought I would just share some random trivia about the oldest marathon in the U.S.

Today, I present the first half of 26.2 Random Facts About the Boston Marathon. Check back tomorrow for the second half.


1. Up until the 1960s, all runners wishing to run the Boston Marathon were required to undergo a physical by a B.A.A. physician.

2. Like the Boston Marathon, the Charles River also starts in Hopkinton and ends in Boston. The major difference? The winding Charles takes 80 miles to make the same journey that takes runners only 26.2 miles to complete.

Photo credit: Claudette Millette

4. For the first 27 years, the distance of the Boston marathon fluctuated between 24 and 25 miles, usually somewhere around 24.5.

5. The Boston Marathon start line was in Ashland until 1924, when the course was lengthened to the 26 mile, 385 yard distance first used in the 1908 Olympics and later adopted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation in 1921. 

6. There were three different starting lines in Ashland--Metcalf's Mill from 1897 to 1899, the middle of a railroad bridge from 1900 to 1906, and Steven's Corner from 1907 to 1923.

Countdown to Boston: A Moveable Finish

With Boston only days away (6 to be precise), I'm going to begin a countdown to Boston series of posts. In the final days of the taper, it's hard to get my brain to focus on much other than the upcoming race, but with plenty of Boston-related topics, hopefully I can at least keep the blog interesting.

No matter what his or her specific goals, every runner who lines up in Hopkinton next Monday will be hoping to do the same thing--cross the finish line on Boylston Street. Although the painted line midway between Exeter and Dartmouth streets has an air of permanence, the finish has changed several times during the races 116-year history.

For the first running of the Boston Marathon back in 1897, BAA officials wanted their 24.5 mile course to mimic the Olympic marathon which had finished in a stadium. The closest thing Boston had to offer was the Irving Oval, a 220-yd track near Copley Square.

The second site of the finish line

After two years, the BAA moved the finish line for the first time. Shortly after the BAA was formally organized on March 15, 1887, the association spent $50,000 to acquire a parcel of land at the corner of Exeter and Boylston for a clubhouse. In 1899, the stretch of Exeter Street in front of the clubhouse became the new site of the marathon finish line.

The BAA was not untouched by the Great Depression and in 1936 it was forced to sell its clubhouse to Boston University, which renamed it the Soden Building. It continued to serve as race headquarters and site of the finish line until it was razed in 1959.  At that point, the BAA moved its race-day operations across the street to the Lenox Hotel allowing the finish to remain on Exeter Street. 

When Prudential Insurance stepped in as title sponsor in 1965, the tape was moved for the first time in years so that runners could finish in front of the newly-completed Prudential Tower. After 20 years, however, the marathon got a new sponsor and a new finish. In 1985, John Hancock signed on as the new title sponsor and so the 1986 finish was moved down the block to it's present day location.

While today's finish line might not be the same one that made Amby Burfoot, Bill Rodgers, and Alberto Salazar famous, it's much closer to the historic one cross by Clarence DeMar, John Kelley (both of them), and other historic victors from the event's first half-century. Maybe I can channel some of their energy next Monday!
________________
Today's Run: 7.3 miles at 7:57 pace.