More than 360 runners from Alabama and Tennessee are registered for the 128th Boston Marathon set for April 15.
The legendary Patriots Day race is one of the six major world marathons that includes Tokyo, New York, Chicago, Berlin and London. Boston is the oldest, founded in 1897, with a historic route and familiar names such as Hopkinton, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Heartbreak Hill, Brookline, Boylston Street, and the finish near Copley Square. It is facilitated by the Boston Athletic Association (BAA).
Registered Alabama runners, about 100 of them, hail from throughout the state. They include, among others, 71-year-old John Aikin of Florence, 59-year-old Todd White of Huntsville — a longtime Boston competitor — and Jase Bell of Madison, who set a PR last year in Beantown with a great 6:27 pace.
Tennessee runners in the TVO region are among the 265 registered for the race. Runners hail from Memphis to Johnson City, with many from the Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville areas. All runners will go off in at least four waves.
To search for a specific name, bib number, city, state or other prompt, click here. You can find results here from previous years, too.
Other associated BAA events include a 5K, 10K and Half, Distance Medley, Invitational Mile and Mayor’s Cup Cross Country event.
Boston Marathon Notes
Less than five days out, the forecast called for overnight rain clearing before dawn and mostly sunny conditions with temps in the upper 50s. If that holds, and wind isn’t terrible, it should be almost ideal conditions for a jaunt.
Some cool tidbits from the BAA about the Boston Marathon history:
— On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York, emerged from a 15-member starting field and captured the first B.A.A. Marathon in 2:55:10.
— From 1897-1968, the Boston Marathon was held on Patriots’ Day, April 19, a holiday commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War and recognized only in Massachusetts and Maine.
— The 2021 race was the first in-person Boston Marathon not held in April; it was run on Monday, October 11, 2021.
— In 1967, Katherine Switzer did not clearly identify herself as a female on the race application and was issued a bib number. B.A.A. officials tried unsuccessfully to physically remove Switzer from the race once she was identified as a woman entrant. At the time of Switzer’s run, the Amateur Athletics Union (A.A.U.) had yet to formally accept participation of women in long distance running.
— The Boston Marathon became the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division competition when it officially recognized Bob Hall in 1975.
