Fortunately, 2022 has been a welcome year for runners and fans of the Boston Marathon. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s most famous road race was cancelled outright in 2020 and significantly postponed, from April to October, in 2021. Happily, this year once again saw the tens of thousands of runners who compete in the marathon hitting the streets of Boston on the traditional race day of Patriots Day (the third Monday in April).
To celebrate the first Patriots Day running of the Boston Marathon in three years, read on for a look at some fun and fascinating facts about this legendary race.
1. The Boston Marathon is the only major marathon to be run on a weekday.
One of the unique features of the Boston Marathon is the fact that it is held on a Monday, in contrast to most other famous road races which are typically held on weekends. Interestingly, however, the Monday running date wasn’t firmly established until 1969. Before this, the marathon was always held on Patriots Day (April 19), but because the holiday itself moved around, the marathon could and did take place any day of the week.
In 1968, to bring more consistency to the holiday, Massachusetts Governor John Volpe signed a bill that designated the third Monday of April as Patriots Day. From 1969 onwards, therefore, Patriots Day and the Boston Marathon have always fallen on that third April Monday, which is known in local circles as “Marathon Monday”.
2. Boston Marathon runners must meet strict qualifying times.
As the Boston Marathon has grown in popularity over the years, race organizers have had to introduce qualifying standards to ensure that the number of participating runners is kept to a manageable size. These standards were first used in 1970 with the goal of keeping the field size to 1,000 runners. Race organizers required all would-be participants that year to submit proof of their ability to complete the race in four hours or less.
As the number of prospective runners has grown, so have the qualifying standards become stricter. Today, for example, three hours or less is the required race time for men aged 18 to 34; for women in the same age group, the standard is three and a half hours or less.
It’s also important to note that the race is now so popular that simply meeting the qualifying times does not necessarily ensure a spot in the race. In 2019, for instance, 7,248 qualifiers were not accepted to the marathon in order to keep the field size at 30,000 runners.
3. Even a great Boston Marathon performance can’t be considered for a world record.
Although the Boston Marathon is one of the world’s most prestigious races, you can’t set a world record by running it. The International Association of Athletics Federation has specific rules about what makes a course “record eligible.” This includes details like how far a race’s finish can be from the start (not more than 50 percent of the race distance), and how much elevation change there can be between the start and the finish (not more than 1 meter per kilometer).
Point-to-point courses like the Boston Marathon, which finish at a different location from their starting point, are less likely to be record eligible. This is because specific weather conditions, such as the swift tailwind that followed runners in 2011, can propel racers to faster-than-usual times.
4. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Marathon’s women’s division.
In 1972, women were officially allowed to participate in the Boston Marathon for the first time. However, it’s not quite true to say that no woman ever ran the race before that year.
In 1966, after her application to run was rejected by the Boston Athletic Association, Bobbi Gibb became the first woman to finish the race in full. Wearing a bathing suit, Bermuda shorts, and boys running shoes, she hid in the bushes near the starting line before sneaking out and blending into the crowd of runners.
The following year, one of the runners was a certain K.V. Switzer: that is, Katherine Switzer, who had registered using only her initials to keep her gender a secret. When race official Jock Semple spotted her a couple of miles in, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to physically pull her off the course, but she kept going and finished the race with a time of four hours and 20 minutes.
5. The cancellation of the Boston Marathon in 2020 was historic.
When race organizers decided that it would be unsafe to hold the Boston Marathon in 2020 due to COVID-19, it marked the first cancellation in the event’s 124-year history. Since its inception in 1897, the Boston Marathon has persevered through extreme weather conditions (including record-setting heat in 2012 and a monsoon in 2018), the 1918 flu pandemic, and World War II.
It’s no surprise, then, that runners, fans, and the city of Boston itself greeted the traditional Patriots Day running of the marathon in 2022 with such enthusiasm.