Boston Marathon

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Boston Marathon

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Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 19, 2024 • Article History

Key People:: Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot

Related Topics:: marathon; running

Notable Honorees:: Joan Benoit Samuelson

On the Web:: International Olympic Committee - The Boston Marathon in numbers (Nov. 08, 2024)

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News •

Boston Marathon Gives $500 Million Lift to Massachusetts Economy • Nov. 14, 2024, 4:46 AM ET (Bloomberg)

Boston Marathon, footrace from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, U.S., to the Back Bay section of Boston, a distance of 42,195 metres (26 miles 385 yards). The world’s oldest annual marathon, it was held first in 1897 and annually thereafter on Patriots’ Day (originally April 19; from 1969 the third Monday in April), which commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775) in the American Revolutionary War. The Boston Marathon is one of the world’s six major marathons, along with the New York City, Chicago, Berlin, London, and Tokyo marathons. It is sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association. Runners (some 20,000 in the early 21st century, as opposed to about 200 in 1960) come from all over the world to participate.

The marathon’s first winner was John J. McDermott, who completed the 24.5-mile (39.4-km) race in less than three hours. The race length was increased to its current distance in 1927. In 1966 Roberta Gibb became the first woman to complete the race, though she ran without an official number. In 1967 Kathy Switzer, who had given her name as K.V. Switzer on the race application, was issued an official number and completed the marathon, although the race director tried to have her removed from the course. In 1972 the Boston Marathon became the first marathon race officially to admit women runners. Three years later it became the first major marathon to hold a wheelchair race.

In 2013 two bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon approximately five hours after the race started, resulting in three deaths and more than 260 injured spectators and participants. The subsequent search for the suspects in the terrorist bombing led to a deadly shoot-out and a manhunt that shut down the Greater Boston area for a day.

Rich Harden no. 40 of the Chicago Cubs pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers. July 31, 2008 at Miller Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Cubs defeated the Brewers 11-4. Major League Baseball (MLB).

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Sports Firsts Through the Ages Quiz

Winners of the Boston Marathon are provided in the table.

Boston Marathon
year	men*	hr:min:sec
*Won by a U.S. runner except as indicated.
1897	John J. McDermott	2:55:10
1898	Ronald J. MacDonald (Can.)	2:42:00
1899	Lawrence J. Brignolia	2:54:38
1900	John J. Caffery (Can.)	2:39:44
1901	John J. Caffery (Can.)	2:29:23
1902	Sammy Mellor	2:43:12
1903	John Lorden	2:41:29
1904	Michael Spring	2:38:04
1905	Frederick Lorz	2:38:25
1906	Tim Ford	2:45:45
1907	Tim Longboat (Can.)	2:24:24
1908	Thomas Morrissey	2:25:43
1909	Henri Renaud	2:53:36
1910	Fred Cameron (Can.)	2:28:52
1911	Clarence DeMar	2:21:39
1912	Michael Ryan	2:21:18
1913	Fritz Carlson	2:25:14
1914	James Duffy (Can.)	2:25:01
1915	Edouard Fabre (Can.)	2:31:41
1916	Arthur Roth	2:27:16
1917	Bill Kennedy	2:28:37
1918	not held
1919	Carl Linder	2:29:13
1920	Peter Trivoulides	2:29:31
1921	Frank Zuna	2:18:57
1922	Clarence DeMar	2:18:10
1923	Clarence DeMar	2:23:47
1924	Clarence DeMar	2:29:40
1925	Charles Mellor	2:33:00
1926	John C. Miles (Can.)	2:25:40
1927	Clarence DeMar	2:40:22
1928	Clarence DeMar	2:37:07
1929	John C. Miles (Can.)	2:33:08
1930	Clarence DeMar	2:34:48
1931	James P. Hennigan	2:46:45
1932	Paul DeBruyn (Ger.)	2:33:36
1933	Leslie S. Pawson	2:31:01
1934	Dave Komonen (Can.)	2:32:53
1935	John A. Kelley	2:32:07
1936	Ellison M. Brown	2:33:40
1937	Walter Young (Can.)	2:33:20
1938	Leslie S. Pawson	2:35:34
1939	Ellison M. Brown	2:28:51
1940	Gerard Côté (Can.)	2:28:28
1941	Leslie S. Pawson	2:30:38
1942	Joe Smith	2:26:51
1943	Gerard Côté (Can.)	2:28:25
1944	Gerard Côté (Can.)	2:31:50
1945	John A. Kelley	2:30:40
1946	Stylianos Kyriakides (Greece)	2:29:27
1947	Suh Yun-Bok (Korea)	2:25:39
1948	Gerard Côté (Can.)	2:31:02
1949	Karl Leandersson (Swed.)	2:31:50
1950	Ham Kee-Yong (S.Kor.)	2:32:39
1951	Shigeki Tanaka (Japan)	2:27:45
1952	Doroteo Flores (Guat.)	2:31:53
1953	Keizo Yamada (Japan)	2:18:51
1954	Veikko L. Karvonen (Fin.)	2:20:39
1955	Hideo Hamamura (Japan)	2:18:22
1956	Antti Viskari (Fin.)	2:14:14
1957	John J. Kelley	2:20:05
1958	Franjo Mihalic (Yugos.)	2:25:54
1959	Eino Oksanen (Fin.)	2:22:42
1960	Paavo Kotila (Fin.)	2:20:54
1961	Eino Oksanen (Fin.)	2:23:39
1962	Eino Oksanen (Fin.)	2:23:48
1963	Aurele Vandendriessche (Belg.)	2:18:58
1964	Aurele Vandendriessche (Belg.)	2:19:59
1965	Morio Shigematsu (Japan)	2:16:33
1966	Kenji Kimihara (Japan)	2:17:11
1967	David McKenzie (N.Z.)	2:15:45
1968	Amby Burfoot	2:22:17
1969	Yoshiaki Unetani (Japan)	2:13:49
1970	Ron Hill (U.K.)	2:10:30
1971	Alvaro Mejía (Colom.)	2:18:45
1972	Olavi Suomalainen (Fin.)	2:15:39
1973	Jon Anderson	2:16:03
1974	Neil Cusack (Ire.)	2:13:39
1975	Bill Rodgers	2:09:55
1976	Jack Fultz	2:20:19
1977	Jerome Drayton (Can.)	2:14:46
1978	Bill Rodgers	2:10:13
1979	Bill Rodgers	2:09:27
1980	Bill Rodgers	2:12:11
1981	Toshihiko Seko (Japan)	2:09:26
1982	Alberto Salazar	2:08:52
1983	Greg Meyer	2:09:00
1984	Geoff Smith (U.K.)	2:10:34
1985	Geoff Smith (U.K.)	2:14:05
1986	Robert de Castella (Austl.)	2:07:51
1987	Toshihiko Seko (Japan)	2:11:50
1988	Ibrahim Hussein (Kenya)	2:08:43
1989	Abebe Mekonnen (Eth.)	2:09:06
1990	Gelindo Bordin (Italy)	2:08:19
1991	Ibrahim Hussein (Kenya)	2:11:06
1992	Ibrahim Hussein (Kenya)	2:08:14
1993	Cosmas N'Deti (Kenya)	2:09:33
1994	Cosmas N'Deti (Kenya)	2:07:15
1995	Cosmas N'Deti (Kenya)	2:09:22
1996	Moses Tanui (Kenya)	2:09:16
1997	Lameck Aguta (Kenya)	2:10:34
1998	Moses Tanui (Kenya)	2:07:34
1999	Joseph Chebet (Kenya)	2:09:52
2000	Elijah Lagat (Kenya)	2:09:47
2001	Lee Bong-Ju (S.Kor.)	2:09:43
2002	Rodgers Rop (Kenya)	2:09:02
2003	Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya)	2:10:11
2004	Timothy Cherigat (Kenya)	2:10:37
2005	Hailu Negussie (Eth.)	2:11:45
2006	Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya)	2:07:14
2007	Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya)	2:14:13
2008	Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya)	2:07:46
2009	Deriba Merga (Eth.)	2:08:42
2010	Robert Cheruiyot (Kenya)	2:05:52
2011	Geoffrey Mutai (Kenya)	2:03:02
2012	Wesley Korir (Kenya)	2:12:40
2013	Lelisa Desisa (Eth.)	2:10:22
2014	Meb Keflezighi	2:08:37
2015	Lelisa Desisa (Eth.)	2:09:17
2016	Lemi Berhanu Hayle (Eth.)	2:12:45
2017	Geoffrey Kirui (Kenya)	2:09:37
2018	Kawauchi Yuki (Japan)	2:15:58
2019	Lawrence Cherono (Kenya)	2:07:57
2020	not held
2021	Benson Kipruto (Kenya)	2:09:51
2022	Evans Chebet (Kenya)	2:06:51
2023	Evans Chebet (Kenya)	2:05:54
2024	Sisay Lemma (Eth.)	2:06:17
year	women*	hr:min:sec
1972	Nina Kuscsik	3:10:26
1973	Jacqueline Hansen	3:05:59
1974	Michiko Gorman	2:47:11
1975	Liane Winter (W.Ger.)	2:42:24
1976	Kim Merritt	2:47:10
1977	Michiko Gorman	2:48:33
1978	Gayle Barron	2:44:52
1979	Joan Benoit	2:35:15
1980	Jacqueline Gareau (Can.)	2:34:28
1981	Allison Roe (N.Z.)	2:26:46
1982	Charlotte Teske (W.Ger.)	2:29:33
1983	Joan Benoit	2:22:43
1984	Lorraine Moller (N.Z.)	2:29:28
1985	Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach	2:34:06
1986	Ingrid Kristiansen (Nor.)	2:24:55
1987	Rosa Mota (Port.)	2:25:21
1988	Rosa Mota (Port.)	2:24:30
1989	Ingrid Kristiansen (Nor.)	2:24:33
1990	Rosa Mota (Port.)	2:25:24
1991	Wanda Panfil (Pol.)	2:24:18
1992	Olga Markova (Russia)	2:23:43
1993	Olga Markova (Russia)	2:25:27
1994	Uta Pippig (Ger.)	2:21:45
1995	Uta Pippig (Ger.)	2:25:11
1996	Uta Pippig (Ger.)	2:27:12
1997	Fatuma Roba (Eth.)	2:26:23
1998	Fatuma Roba (Eth.)	2:23:21
1999	Fatuma Roba (Eth.)	2:23:25
2000	Catherine Ndereba (Kenya)	2:26:11
2001	Catherine Ndereba (Kenya)	2:23:53
2002	Margaret Okayo (Kenya)	2:20:43
2003	Svetlana Zakharova (Russia)	2:25:20
2004	Catherine Ndereba (Kenya)	2:24:27
2005	Catherine Ndereba (Kenya)	2:25:13
2006	Rita Jeptoo (Kenya)	2:23:38
2007	Lidiya Grigoryeva (Russia)	2:29:18
2008	Dire Tune (Eth.)	2:25:25
2009	Salina Kosgei (Kenya)	2:32:16
2010	Teyba Erkesso (Eth.)	2:26:11
2011	Carolina Kilel (Kenya)	2:22:36
2012	Sharon Cherop (Kenya)	2:31:50
2013	Rita Jeptoo (Kenya)	2:26:25
2014	Rita Jeptoo (Kenya)	2:18:57
2015	Caroline Rotich (Kenya)	2:24:55
2016	Atsede Baysa (Eth.)	2:29:19
2017	Edna Kiplagat (Kenya)	2:21:52
2018	Desiree Linden	2:39:54
2019	Worknesh Degefa (Eth.)	2:23:31
2020	not held
2021	Diana Kipyokei (Kenya)	2:24:45
2022	Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya)	2:21:01
2023	Hellen Obiri (Kenya)	2:21:38
2024	Hellen Obiri (Kenya)	2:22:37

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Meg Matthias.