world's oldest continuous and most prestigious footrace....

The Boston Marathon Fact Sheet
A guide to the world's most celebrated road race

by Erin Teare Martin and Mike Morrison
Joseph Chebet


The Boston Marathon, organized by the Boston Athletic Association, is the world's oldest marathon. It takes place on the third Monday in April, also known as Patriot's Day, which is a holiday (in Maine and Massachusetts) that commemorates the famous battles of Lexington and Concord.

$575,000 in prize money was up for grabs in 2008.

In terms of media coverage, the Boston Marathon is the second biggest single-day sporting event in the U.S., just behind the Super Bowl. 500,000 spectators are expected to line the course in 2007.

The 2000 Boston Marathon was the closest in the race's history. Kenya's Elijah Lagat and Ethiopian star Gezahenge Abera sprinted to the finish, with Lagat prevailing. The two actually recorded the same exact time (2:09:47) while Kenyan Moses Tanui followed just three seconds behind.

In 1988, Ibrahim Hussein became the first black male to win at Boston.

Former Massachusetts Governor and presidential candidate Mike Dukakis finished 57th (3:31) as a high school student in 1951.

In 1975, Boston became the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division.

Starting in 2007, the marathon began to implement the wave start, with one group of runners going off at 10:00 A.M. and a second group starting a half an hour later.

This year, the marathon will start wave one at 10 and wave two at 10:30