'The Boston'

Monday April 21, 2008 is the 112th running of the Boston Marathon,
Grandaddy of all marathons. It is a great event in Boston,
enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of local enthusiasts (the
majority of whom could probably not run around the block!)

It is celebrated on 'Patriots Day' a local holiday
commemorating the battles of Concord and Lexington at the
start of the American Revolution.

Inspired by the recent first Olympic games of the modern
era, the first Boston Marathon was held on April 19, 1897
with fifteen participants.

Here is a little info to wet your appetite:

1897
first race, Fifteen runners competed.

1898 The first foreign winner was a Canadian with the
improbable name of Ronald MacDonald.

1911
Clarence Demar of Massachusetts won his first of SEVEN
Boston Marathons. Demar won for the final time in 1930
at age 41.

1928
John A. "The Elder" Kelley made his Boston Marathon debut.
Kelley won the race twice, in 1935 and again in 1945.
During his prime, from 1934-1950,in addition to winning twice,
he finished second seven times and in the top five fifteen times.
Kelley holds the record for most Boston Marathons started (61)
and finished (58).His final race came in 1992 at the age of 84.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Kelley

1936
The last of Newton's hills (at mile 20 on the course) was
given the nickname "Heartbreak Hill" by Boston Globe
reporter Jerry Nason. When John A. Kelley caught eventual
champion Ellison "Tarzan" Brown on the Newton hills,
Kelley made a friendly gesture of tapping Brown on the
shoulder. Brown responded by regaining the lead on the
final hill, and as Nason reported, "breaking Kelley's
heart."

Brown, an untrained runner, was an impoverished Native
American (Narragansett)from Rhode Island, who once won two
marathons on consecutive days! He is still a legend in
Rhode Island.

http://members.shaw.ca/tarzanbrown/legend%20of%20tarzan%20brown.html

http://members.shaw.ca/tarzanbrown/

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761176,00.html

1975
First of four Boston Marathon victories by Massachusetts'
own Bill Rogers --A.K.A. 'Boston Billy'

1983
Joan Benoit won her second Boston Marathon in a world-best
time of 2:22:43. Benoit, who won the Olympic Marathon the
following summer, became the first person to win the
Boston and Olympic Marathons. (I watched her incredulously
from Heartbreak Hill as she ran past in 1983, at least five
minutes ahead of all the other women runners!)

In 1983 Greg Meyer of Massachusetts was the last American
winner in the male division.


For an overview of the marathon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon

for lots more, including pictures, map, history,
highlights, etc.

http://www.bostonmarathon.org/BostonMarathon/Default.asp

http://www.bostonmarathon.org/BostonMarathon/History.asp

http://www.bostonmarathon.org/BostonMarathon/CourseMaps.pdf

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/bostonmarathon/index.html

http://www.heartbreakhill.blogspot.com/

http://boston.com/sports/marathon/

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1067197&srvc=rss

http://www.adventure-marathon.com/Boston-Marathon-2008.aspx