For Boston Marathon's last 100 years, it all starts in Hopkinton
HOPKINTON, Mass. (AP) — Workers zip in and out of the tents that dot the Hopkinton Town Common, flags flutter from the gazebo, and crews assemble the platform where the starter will fire the gun to send the Boston Marathon field on its way. On race day, this otherwise sleepy New England town serendipitously located 26.2 miles from Boston will swell to three times its size.
Once a year for the last 100 years, Hopkinton becomes the center of the running world, thanks to a quirk of geography and history that made it the starting line for the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.
“It wouldn’t be the Boston Marathon without Hopkinton,” said Meb Keflezighi, who was conferred with honorary town citizenship after winning the race in 2014, the year after the finish line bombing. “As the sign says, ‘It all starts here.’”
Although the Boston Marathon was born next door in Ashland, where 15 men toed a line near Metcalf’s Mill in 1897, the start was moved to Hopkinton in 1924 to conform with a new international distance standard. With a field for the 100th anniversary that will top 30,000 runners, the town strains to absorb the crowds and yet still maintains its small-town hospitality year-round.
Related articles
Medics remove 150 MAGGOTS from a woman's mouth after dental procedure left her with rotting tissue
A team of shocked medics removed 150 maggots from a woman's mouth that had appeared after a dental p2024-05-21Detroit man sentenced to 80 years for fatal shootings of 2 West Virginia women
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Detroit man was sentenced on Monday to 80 years in prison for the slaying2024-05-21Biden speaks with Netanyahu as Israelis appear closer to major Rafah offensive
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden again urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against2024-05-21I'm jealous of my husband's dead ex
Q: My second marriage is going through a bad patch and it's my fault. My husband is everything you c2024-05-21Amtrak train hits pickup truck in upstate New York, 3 dead including child
NEW YORK (AP) — A child was among the three victims killed when a passenger train hit a pickup truck2024-05-21Julia Fox and Law Roach team up for a sustainable fashion competition show
For Julia Fox, life is a catwalk. The looks she puts together — cutting off the belt loops of her je2024-05-21
atest comment