The Boston Marathon, an annual marathon race, takes place in the greater Boston area of eastern Massachusetts, USA. Patriot’s Day, the third Monday in April, traditionally marks the event. The success of the first marathon race at the 1896 Summer Olympics inspired the event’s inception in 1897. The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and one of the most well-known road races. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Its route extends from Hopkinton in southern Middlesex County to Copley Square in Boston.
Since 1897, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) has held this event annually, incorporating a “virtual alternative” following the cancellation of the 2020 road race due to the COVID-19 pandemic. DMSE Sports has managed the race since 1988. Every year, amateur and professional runners from across the world compete in the Boston Marathon, braving the steep Massachusetts terrain and varied weather conditions.
The event draws 500,000 spectators along its path, making it New England’s most-watched sports event. The event began with only 15 participants in 1897 and has since grown to an average of over 30,000 registered participants per year, with 30,251 people entering in 2015. The 1996 Centennial Boston Marathon set a record as the world’s largest marathon with 38,708 entries, 36,748 starts, and 35,868 finishers.
History
Inspired by the marathon’s resurrection at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the Boston Marathon first took place in April 1897. Until 2020, it was the oldest continuously running marathon [6] and the second-longest continuously running footrace in North America, having begun five months after the Buffalo Turkey Trot.
On April 19, 1897, 10 years after its inception, the B.A.A. hosted the 24.5-mile (39.4-kilometer) marathon to end its athletic competition, the B.A.A. Games. John J. “JJ” McDermott [4] won the inaugural edition by running the 24.5-mile distance in 2:55:10, leading a field of 15. Patriots’ Day, a newly established holiday, inspired the organizers to organize the race, which connected the Athenian and American struggles for liberty. Since then, every year, including during World War II and the Great Depression, the race, now known as the Boston Marathon, has taken place in some form, making it the world’s oldest annual marathon. The starting line moved from Metcalf’s Mill in Ashland to the nearby town of Hopkinton in 1924. The IAAF formalized the route in 1921, increasing it to 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 kilometers) to meet the standards set by the 1908 Summer Olympics. The racers complete the first 1.9 miles (3.1 kilometers) in Hopkinton before entering Ashland.
The Boston Marathon was initially a local event, but its popularity and significance have drawn runners from all over the world. For the majority of its history, the Boston Marathon was free, with the only prize for winning being an olive branch wreath. However, elite athletes refused to run the race unless a monetary prize was available, leading to the first corporate-sponsored cash prizes in the 1980s. In 1986, they presented the first financial prize for winning the marathon.
Walter A. Brown was president of the Boston Athletic Association from 1941 to 1964. In 1951, during the height of the Korean War, Brown barred Koreans from competing in the Boston Marathon. He said, “While American soldiers are fighting and dying in Korea, every Korean should be fighting to protect his country rather than training for marathons.” As long as the war is ongoing, we will not accept Korean entries for our event on April 19.
2024 Boston Marathon
The 2024 Boston Marathon was the 128th official edition of the annual marathon race in Boston, Massachusetts, and took place on Monday, April 15, 2024. It was the second of six World Marathon Majors events scheduled for 2024, and it had the Platinum Label.
We limited the number of participants to 30,000, selecting 22,019 runners based on their qualifying event results. A record 33,000 runners from 127 countries applied to participate in the marathon.
In mid-March, organizers announced that former NFL star Rob Gronkowski would serve as the event’s grand marshal.
Sisay Lemma won the men’s elite category, while Hellen Obiri took home the women’s elite division title. [10] Evans Chebet, the two-time defending men’s champion who was hoping to become the fifth man to win the race three times in a row, finished third. Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair division, while Eden Rainbow-Cooper took the women’s. Eden became the first woman from Great Britain to win the women’s wheelchair division at the Boston Marathon.
