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Boston Marathon

A guide to resources about the Marathon available at the BPL and beyond.

Men

Clarence DeMar holds the distinction of having won the most Boston Marathons, with seven victories to his credit spanning from 1911 to 1930. He also won the bronze medal in the marathon event at the 1924 Olympics in Paris.

A native of Ohio, DeMar moved to Keene, New Hampshire in 1929, where he taught printing and industrial history at Keene Normal School. Since 1978 the city of Keene has held the Clarence DeMar Marathon in his honor.

Image Credit:
Clarence DeMar winning BAA Marathon, 1927 or 1928
Copyright © Leslie Jones.
Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

A native of West Medford, Johnny Kelley competed in 108 marathons over the course of his career. He ran in a record 61 Boston Marathons and won in 1935 and 1945. In 1992 he completed his last full Boston Marathon at the age of 84, having become a much-beloved figure on marathon day every year. A statue depicting an elderly Kelley running with his younger self was erected in Newton in 1993.

Image Credit:
Johnny Kelley crosses the finish line, 1945
Copyright Leslie Jones.
Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

A member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island, Ellison “Tarzan” Brown won the Boston Marathon in 1936 and 1939. His victory in 1936 came after an intense duel with Johnny Kelley, and was said to break Kelley’s heart. The place where Brown passed Kelley for the final time in the Newton hills subsequently became known as Heartbreak Hill. Brown is only the second Native American to have won Boston and the only Native American to have won two.

Image Credit:
Tarzan Brown winning the 1939 Marathon
Copyright Leslie Jones.
Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

Bill Rodgers has competed in the Boston Marathon 17 times, winning it four times including three years consecutively in 1978, 79, and 80. He has won 22 marathons overall and is the only runner to hold titles in the Boston, New York, and Fukuoka marathons simultaneously. He was ranked #1 in the world in the marathon by Track & Field News in 1975, 1977, and 1979.

Image Credit:
Boston Marathon Memorial, Copley Square
April 2015

Among their many athletic endeavors Dick and Rick Hoyt participated in 72 marathons overall, including 32 Boston Marathons. Dick would push Rick, who had cerebral palsy, in a specialized wheelchair. They started competing in athletic events when Rick was 15 and Dick was 36, and competed in over 1,100 events together. A bronze statue commemorating Team Hoyt was dedicated in Hopkinton near the starting line in 2013.

Dick retired from marathon racing after completing the 2014 Boston Marathon. Hoyt family friend Bryan Lyons had been doing marathons with Rick since then. Lyons ran the 2019 Boston Marathon by himself, as Rick was unable to compete due to health issues. It was the first Boston Marathon he had missed in over 30 years. Lyons passed away suddenly in 2020; he was 50 years old.

Dick Hoyt passed away at age 80 on March 17, 2021. Rick Hoyt passed away at age 61 on May 22, 2023.

Image Credit:
Pictured from left to right- Dick Hoyt, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Bryan Lyons, Rick Hoyt
April 18, 2016 (Hopkinton, MA)
State Department photo

The 2014 marathon had the second largest field in race history with around 36,000 registered participants. Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi finished the race in 2:08:37 and became the first American man to win it since 1983, and at two weeks shy of his 39th birthday was the oldest winner since the 1930s. A refugee from Eritrea, Meb immigrated to the U.S. with his family at age 12 and became a naturalized citizen.

Image Credit:
Boston Marathon Memorial, Copley Square
April 2015

Women

Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to complete the entire Boston Marathon, a feat she first accomplished in 1966. Women were not officially allowed to compete in the marathon until 1972, because it was believed that they could not handle running long distances.  Gibb ran in the Boston Marathon unofficially in 1966, 67, and 68. In 1996 the BAA officially named her the women’s division winner for those years and awarded her a medal.

Image Credit:
Boston Marathon Memorial, Copley Square
April 2015

Sara Mae Berman was the top woman finisher of the marathon in 1969, 1970, and 1971, setting a new course record in 1970. She was honored along with Bobbi Gibb in a ceremony in 1996 and given a medal in recognition of her three victories. She and her husband Larry founded the Cambridge Sports Union in 1962, which has since become one of most prestigious athletic clubs in New England.

Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official bib. In 1967, she registered for the marathon under the name K.V. Switzer and was accepted as an official entrant. She is the subject of a famous series of photographs where a race official attempted to remove her from the course before being thrown off by Switzer’s then-boyfriend. She would compete in the Boston Marathon again in 1975, finishing second in the women’s division.

Joan Benoit broke a 28-year-old record at the 1979 marathon, shaving eight minutes off the previous fastest marathon finish for a woman.  At the 1983 Boston Marathon she broke the record again, shaving two minutes off the marathon record that had been set only the day before at the London Marathon. She competed in four Boston Marathons overall winning twice. Often competing while wearing a Red Sox cap, she won the first Olympic Women’s Marathon at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 1984.

Image Credit:
Boston Marathon Memorial, Copley Square
April 2015

In 2018 during cold, rainy, and windy weather conditions that forced many runners to drop out, Desi Linden became the first American woman to win the marathon since 1985. She had come in second seven years earlier after falling behind by two seconds during a sprint down Boylston Street against eventual winner Caroline Kilel.

The 2018 marathon is notable for being one of the slowest on record, thanks to the weather conditions. Linden’s finishing time of 2:39:54 was the slowest winning time for the women’s race since 1978.