My dad, now deceased, ran '76 and '77. Wondering if he would have received something besides beef stew.
My dad, now deceased, ran '76 and '77. Wondering if he would have received something besides beef stew.
I did a quick search and came up with nothing but I'm really interested to hear the answer. My guess is that the finisher medal probably didn't start until the hobbyjogger trend was in full swing. On the other hand, running Boston has always been something you earn so I wouldn't be too surprised if they had something for the finishers earlier than most races.
It's freakin impossible to find anything on the marathon these days though. I was looking for an old article about Bill Rodgers the other day and damn near everything that comes up is about the bombing.
1983
ye55trdfy wrote:
On the other hand, running Boston has always been something you earn so I wouldn't be too surprised if they had something for the finishers earlier than most races.
Correct. In '83 they gave out pewter medals with no ribbon attached. Then you walked into the dank Pru parking garage to pick up your gear. In order to qualify, men 35-39 needed to run 20 minutes faster than the current BQ.
I own a typewriter wrote:
ye55trdfy wrote:On the other hand, running Boston has always been something you earn so I wouldn't be too surprised if they had something for the finishers earlier than most races.
Correct. In '83 they gave out pewter medals with no ribbon attached. Then you walked into the dank Pru parking garage to pick up your gear. In order to qualify, men 35-39 needed to run 20 minutes faster than the current BQ.
I rememeber that. As they handed you the medal they spit in your face and kicked you in the nuts. And we were happy about it! A 3 hour hobby jogger would have been crying for his mommy.
GOT: You left out the part about no signs at mile marks or 5k splits. BAA posted distance signs only at traditional "check points"... Framingham train station, Natick, etc.
But only the finishers got beef stew, right?
So that's kind of like a finisher medal.
I remember that stank Pru garage. Everyone crowding trying to get their bag. I had to sit on the floor as I almost passed-out.I also ran '83, and I thought they had a green ribbon on the medal. I am not even sure where it is anymore.They also sent certificates to only those that went under their respective qualifying time, yes?
grizzled oldtimer wrote:
I own a typewriter wrote:Correct. In '83 they gave out pewter medals with no ribbon attached. Then you walked into the dank Pru parking garage to pick up your gear. In order to qualify, men 35-39 needed to run 20 minutes faster than the current BQ.
I rememeber that. As they handed you the medal they spit in your face and kicked you in the nuts. And we were happy about it! A 3 hour hobby jogger would have been crying for his mommy.
The Boston Globe would publish the names of each official entrant in the Monday edition, and their finishing times in the Tuesday edition.
LI Runner wrote:
I remember that stank Pru garage.
The current finish line is 2 blocks past where the PRU garage was located. What year did they move the finish line?
prolly the year John Hancock started sponsoring the event.
da trudth wrote:
prolly the year John Hancock started sponsoring the event.
You would be wrong. Hancock's first year as race sponsor was 1986.
Misread your post. Duh!
I ran in 79, gave trophies to top 10, medals to top 100 (with a ribbon) needed to be under 2:24 to get one.
Along these lines, did marathons originally give out "finishers shirts?" That is, you only got the shirt if you finished? I have a vague memory some did this, but admit it is foggy.
I think the Syttende Mai 20 mile run still does that.
Running and Marathon running, and racing in particular, has changed tremendously since the 60s and 70s. I raced/ran the Boston Marathon 5 times the first time being on Thursday April 19, 1962 and the last on April 15, 1974. I do not remember any finishers medals. In 1962, there were 181 starters and no women were allowed. The winner received a wreath and a medal with a ruby in it, the next 9 received trophies and the next 25 received medals. The first Canadian received a large trophy from The Canadian American Club of Massachusetts.
Before the race all runners received a physical from the Boston Marathon doctors.
The finish line was in front of the Hotel Lenox. I believe my room number in that hotel was 515. There was no water on the course and only the leader received his splits which were given to him in the middle of the towns the race passed through, e.g. at 6.5, 10.5 13.5 and 17.5 mile.
In 1974, 1266 runners ran under 3:25.
Marathon races did not have T-shirts in those days.
Bumping this thread because it’s amazing
Bumping it wrote:
Bumping this thread because it’s amazing
Agree. The stories don't get old.
Thanks, old timers, for documenting this...if this information is nowhere else on the internet, now it is here.
Best I have is running it when it started at noon (switched to 10am in 07 I think) so on a hot day you had the sun two hours higher in the sky...some brutal runs like that.
Ken Osha wrote:
Along these lines, did marathons originally give out "finishers shirts?" That is, you only got the shirt if you finished? I have a vague memory some did this, but admit it is foggy.
I think the Syttende Mai 20 mile run still does that.
Peachtree did as recently as 2014 (last time I ran it). If you saw someone with a shirt, you know they finished the race. It was a crappy cotton shirt though, so you wouldn't actually want to ever wear it.
Oh Please wrote:
Ken Osha wrote:
Along these lines, did marathons originally give out "finishers shirts?" That is, you only got the shirt if you finished? I have a vague memory some did this, but admit it is foggy.
I think the Syttende Mai 20 mile run still does that.
Peachtree did as recently as 2014 (last time I ran it). If you saw someone with a shirt, you know they finished the race. It was a crappy cotton shirt though, so you wouldn't actually want to ever wear it.
Even random 5K and 10K road races, as recently as the early 1990s, often gave out T-shirts only to finishers. At least that was true of the races I ran. Finishers' medals were found only in marathons and half-marathons until very recently. The race director of one of our local 5K races reluctantly yielded to pressure to start giving finishers' medals just last year.
Along slightly different but related lines, back in the 1970s I participated (as a kid) in March of Dimes walkathons, which were 20-mile events intended to be walked, but many people including me ran substantial parts. Donors pledged a certain amount of money per mile and you had to go back after the event with your stamped cards showing how many miles you actually covered to collect your pledges. I don't know whether this event still exists. In the early 2000s I started participating in the Relay For Life, a team fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The big difference is that the sponsors pledge a certain amount of money which is collected before the event and has no connection to what the relay team actually does on the day of the event. How things have changed.