The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 km, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events. It is one of six World Marathon Majors. Its course runs from Hopkinton in southern Middlesex County to Copley Square in Boston.
The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishers in 2019 and 98,247 applicants for the 2017 race. Along with the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, it is among the pre-eminent long-distance annual running events in the United States and is one of the World Marathon Majors.
Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She was the 2011 and 2013 World Champion in the marathon. She established herself as an elite marathon runner with wins at the Los Angeles and New York City Marathons in 2010. Her personal best for the distance is 2:19:50 hours, set at the London Marathon in 2012. At age 37, Kiplagat won the 2017 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:21:52 hours, and won the marathon silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in London. At age 39, she was second at the 2019 Boston Marathon and fourth in the event at the following World Championships. At age 41, she won the 2021 Boston Marathon, becoming the oldest-ever winner of a World Marathon Major.
Shalane Grace Flanagan is an American long-distance runner, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area records in both the 10k and 15k road races.
Kathrine Virginia Switzer is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator.
Roberta Louise Gibb is an American former runner who was the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon (1966). She is recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the pre-sanctioned era women's winner in 1966, 1967, and 1968. At the Boston Marathon, the pre-sanctioned era comprised the years from 1966 through 1971, when women, who under AAU rules could not compete in the Men's Division, ran and finished the race. In 1996 the B.A.A. retroactively recognized as champions the women who finished first in the Pioneer Women's Division Marathon for the years 1966–1971.
The B.A.A. 10K is an annual road running event for men and women over 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) that takes place in June in Boston in the United States. A total of 3040 people finished the race at the inaugural edition.
John Duncan Semple was a Scottish-American runner, physical therapist, trainer, and sports official. In 1967, as a race official for the Boston Marathon, he attempted to stop the 20-year-old marathon runner Kathrine Switzer from continuing to run and knocked down her coach when he tried to protect her. Switzer was officially entered in the race in accordance with the Boston Marathon's rule book, which at that time made no mention of sex. Semple subsequently claimed that amateur rules banned women racing for more than 1.5 miles (2.4 km). He subsequently oversaw implementation of qualifying times in 1970 and, in response to lobbying and rule changes by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), the implementation of a separate women's race in 1972.
The 2013 Boston Marathon was the 117th running of the annual marathon race in Boston, United States, which took place on April 15, 2013. Organized by the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), it hosted the second of the World Marathon Majors to be held in 2013 with over 23,000 runners participating. Lelisa Desisa won the men's race with a time of 2:10:22, and Rita Jeptoo won the women's with a time of 2:26:25. Hiroyuki Yamamoto won the men's wheelchair race in 1:25:32 and Tatyana McFadden won the women's in 1:45:25.
The 2014 Boston Marathon took place in Boston, Massachusetts, on Monday, April 21. It was the 118th official running of the Boston Marathon, traditionally held on Patriots' Day. The race is organized by the Boston Athletic Association, and has been happening yearly since 1897. On account of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, extra security measures were implemented. They started a safety committee which began meeting in January of each year, as well as had a multi-agency coordination center to provide a place for people to go who were in need of help during the course of the race. New laws included the Post Disaster Mental Health Act were implemented which provides mental health services for places after a disaster even if it is not considered extreme enough to be a Major Disaster. The 2014 Marathon had about 36,000 registered participants, second only to the 1996 race in number of entries.
The 2015 Boston Marathon was the 119th running of the Boston Athletic Association's mass-participation marathon. It took place on Monday, April 20. The men's race was won by Lelisa Desisa from Ethiopia in a time of 2:09:17. Caroline Rotich of Kenya won the women's race with a time 2:24:55.
The 2016 Boston Marathon was the 120th running of the Boston Athletic Association's mass-participation marathon. It took place on Monday, April 18. Both of the winners were from Ethiopia: the men's race was won by Lemi Berhanu Hayle in a time of 2:12:45. Atsede Baysa won the women's race with a time of 2:29:19.
Sara Mae Berman is an American marathon runner. Berman won the Boston Marathon as an unofficial winner from 1969 to 1971 as women were not allowed to compete until 1972. At subsequent Boston Marathons, Berman had a fifth-place finish in both 1972 and 1973. Berman's wins were made official by the Boston Athletic Association in 1996. Outside of Boston, Berman finished third at the 1971 New York City Marathon. In 2015, she was inducted into the Road Runners Club of America Hall of Fame. Berman is the daughter of Saul O Sidore and May Blum Sidore Gruber.
The 2018 Boston Marathon was the 122nd running of the Boston Athletic Association's Boston Marathon. It took place on Monday, April 16, 2018. The race was held in unusually cold weather at 39 °F (4 °C) with rain. Yuki Kawauchi won the men's foot race in 2:15:58 and Desiree Linden won the women's foot race in 2:39:54. The previous year's times were 2:09:37 and 2:21:52, respectively, reflecting the difficult running conditions this year. Wheelchair winners were Marcel Hug, 1:46:26, and Tatyana McFadden, 2:04:39.
The 2021 Boston Marathon was the 125th official running of the annual marathon race held in Boston, Massachusetts, and 123rd time it was run on course. It took place on October 11, 2021.
Debbie Mueller is an American middle and long-distance runner who won many major road races in the 1980s and 1990s, including the Dublin Marathon.
William Thomas Cloney was an American athletics administrator who was the race director of the Boston Marathon from 1946 to 1982 and president of the Boston Athletic Association from 1964 to 1982.
