Boston Marathon

• Mar 11, 2005 8:47 pm US/Eastern
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  Boston Marathon Trivia

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Boston Marathon Trivia

• The Boston Marathon course is 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 kilometers)
  
  
• About 22,5000 runners compete in the Boston Marathon
  
  
• Runners now begin the Boston Marathon in two waves of approximately 10,000 runners each
  
  
• The total prize money package for the Boston Marathon is $575,000
  
  
• The winners of the Men and Women Open Division Winners each receive $100,000
  
  
• Prize money was first awarded at the Boston Marathon in 1986
  
  
• Since 1969 the Boston Marathon has always been run on Patriots' Day, the third Monday in April
  
  
• About 500,000 spectators line the marathon route each year
  
  
• Wheelchair athlete Jean Driscoll holds the most Boston Marathon victories (8)
  
  
• Johnny Kelley started a record 61 Boston Marathons, won twice and finished the race 58 times
  
  
• There were only 15 runners to start the first Boston Marathon in 1897
  
  
• John J. McDermott won the first Boston Marathon in 1897 in a time of 2:55:10
  
  
• Greg Meyer was the last American Man to win the Boston Marathon (1983)
  
  
• Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach was the last American woman to win the Boston Marathon (1985)
  
  
• 1966: Roberta Gibb became first woman to unofficially run the Boston Marathon
  
  
• 1967: Katherine Switzer became first woman to receive official number, by using her initials to register
  
  
• 1972: Women were first allowed to officially enter the Boston Marathon
  
  
• In 2004 the Elite Women runners were given a separate, earlier start time from the main field
  
  
• The largest field of runners was for the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996, when 36,748 runners started the marathon
  
  
• Clarence DeMar was the oldest winner of the Boston Marathon at age 41 (1930)
  
  
• 18 year-old Tim Ford was the youngest winner in Boston Marathon history (1906)
  
  
• 173-pound Lawrence Brignolia is the heaviest runner ever to win the Boston Marathon
  
  
• 1975: Boston became the first marathon to include a wheelchair division
  
  
• 1936: Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason nicknamed "Heartbreak Hill" in Newton
  
  
• In 1988 Ibrahim Hussein finished 1 second ahead of Juma Ikangaa in the closest finish in Boston Marathon history
  
  
• Clarence DeMar, Bill Rodgers & Cosmos Ndeti are the only champions to win the open division three consecutive years
  
  
• In 1961 the racers faced 38-degree temperatures and snow squalls along the course
  
  
• Water and Gatorade are provided every mile of the course; PowerGel is provided at mile 17
  
  
• 4 tons of pasta and 500 gallons of tomato sauce are cooked for the pre-race meal

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