Boston Marathon
Boston Marathon is considered world’s oldest and most famous long distance running event and the history of Boston marathon started in 1897. The management authority of Boston marathon is Boston athletic association. Boston marathon is included in world’s five biggest marathons and due to this many runners want to take part in this race. Every year a large number of runners take part in the race including causal and professional runners, both have to give outstanding performance in qualifying round. The qualified runners are then categorized according to their age. The qualifying round is very hard to pass and taking part in Boston marathon is an honor itself. On average 20,000 runners take part in this huge running event every year. But on the diamond jubilee ceremony of Boston Marathon in 1996 about 38,000 runners took part in marathon.
The Boston marathon is held on every third Monday of April, the event is celebrated with the patriot’s day. Boston marathon weather is very suitable for such a huge long distance running event, as it is just the end of winter season and starting of spring season so the runners feel no problem with the hot weather while running. Boston marathon is the most watched event by Boston’s and New England’s people. About 500,000 viewers from all over the world watch and enjoy the Boston marathon live coverage. The live Boston marathon coverage is also on aired at many public places, cafés and restaurants. Many news and sports channels also give specially Boston marathon news bulletin. There is no restriction for male and female to take part in Boston marathon. But both have to pass the qualifying round.
The qualifying round is based on times. Boston marathon qualifying times varies with the age, at the age of 18 to 34 the runner have to qualify and finish the qualifying test in approximately three hours and ten minutes for male category and for female the required timing for qualification is three hours and forty minutes. This timing varies for the age 40 to 44 category runners, the time increases to three hours and twenty minutes. The racing and qualifying standards are similar to Olympic qualifying standards. Besides running time the runner also have to fulfill the Boston marathon course requirements. All the qualifying tests and courses must be fulfilled before the final registration of runners. The Boston marathon route is started with the Hopkinton and finally end at Copley Square besides the Boston public library.
Boston marathon tracking is complex and difficult for those runners who are not familiar with the real route. The entire racing track consists of wide roads, lots of participants turn to change the route as many alternate tracks are made to overcome the traffic load like route 135, 16 and 30. The tracks might have many ups and downs just like hilly tracks. Due to the complication or ups and downs of the racing route all the runners are given Boston marathon map and workshops are also arranged in the season of marathon where the route and important places are taught. Due to the complex nature of route a common question raises in every runner’s mind: how many miles long is the Boston marathon? As the Boston marathon is a member of world’s biggest marathon majors so it meets all the standards of AIMS. The total distance of the running track is 42.19 kilometers. The information about Boston marathon winners and historical records such as 1954 Boston marathon are available on Boston marathon official website.
