Boston Marathon

By D. Westphalen

The Boston Marathon is an annual event that happens on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April. The first marathon occurred in 1897, making it the oldest annual marathon and it is ranked as one of the world’s best races. It is one of the World Marathon Majors, along with Tokyo, Berlin, New York, Chicago and London. The marathon has been functioning for over one hundred years so naturally, there have been many unforgettable moments. The most tragic of them being the 2013 bombing, where 3 people died and over 260 people were wounded.​

To qualify for the Boston marathon all runners have to be 18 or older and have to complete a standard marathon course certified by a national governing body. 26,737 people completed the run, of these, 60 were wheelchaired para-athletes. The weather was an average of 14oC which for the athletes was very hot, as most of them had been training in the winter climate.

This year, the men’s race came down to a sprint in the last couple of meters, two runners battled each other and finished seconds apart. Lawrence Cherano, won the men’s foot category with a time of 2:07:57 and Lelisa Dessia came in second only two seconds behind with a time of 2:07:59. Worknesh Degefa got an early lead from the other women in the sprint and stayed in the lead for the whole race, and won with a time of 2:23:31.

In the men’s wheelchair, 20-year-old, Daniel Romanchuck, became the first American to win the race since 1993, and the youngest runner ever. He had a time of 1:21:36. During the women’s wheelchair, it started raining making the first half of the race more difficult, but Manuela Schär, from Switzerland, managed to win with a time of 1:34:19, winning the women’s wheelchair race for the first time.