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Event Information:
The
Boston Marathon is an annual
marathon hosted by the U.S. city of
Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots'
Day, the third Monday of April.
Begun in 1897 and inspired by the
success of the first modern-day
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 five World
Marathon Majors.
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Today,
the Boston Athletic Association
manages this event. Amateur and
professional runners from all over
the world compete in the Boston
Marathon each year, braving the
hilly New England terrain and
varying weather to take part in the
race. The event attracts 500,000
spectators each year, making it New
England's most widely viewed
sporting event. Though starting with
18 participants in 1897, the event
now attracts an average of about
20,000 registered participants each
year with 25,283 people entering in
2008. The all-time record for the
world's largest marathon ever run
was the Centennial Boston Marathon
in 1996 with 38,708 entrants.
The
course runs through 26.22 miles
(42.195 km) of winding roads,
following Route 135, Route 16, Route
30 and city streets into the center
of Boston, where the official finish
line is located at Copley Square,
alongside the Boston Public Library.
For this reason, the MBTA suspends
service to the Copley Square stop
for the day, and runs increased
service to the general area. The
race runs through eight
Massachusetts cities and towns:
Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham,
Natick, Wellesley, Newton,
Brookline, and Boston.
The
Boston Marathon is considered to be
one of the more difficult marathon
courses because of the Newton hills,
which culminate in Heartbreak Hill
near Boston College. While the three
hills on Commonwealth Avenue (Route
30) are better known, a preceding
hill on Washington Street (Route
16), climbing from the Charles River
crossing at 16 miles, is regarded by
Dave McGillivray, the 2007 race
director, as the course’s most
difficult challenge. This hill,
which follows a 150 foot drop over
the course of one half-mile, forces
many lesser-trained runners to a
walking pace.
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