Talk:List of winners of the Boston Marathon

Robert Fowler & Henri Renaud
Although this article mimics the official Boston Marathon guide and states that Henri Renaud from New Hampshire won in 1909 with a 2:53:36, I found a New York Times articles stating that Robert Fowler ran 2:42:55 over the Ashland-Boston course on January 9, 2009 1909 over 26 miles, 386 yards. Interestingly, there is a "Henri Renard" from Nashua, New Hampshire in 13th with a 3:30:35. Comments? Location (talk) 21:00, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Nice find. Interesting bit of history, but it's not the Boston Marathon.  That's always run in April. Hertz1888 (talk) 21:17, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks! To cross-check this, I was looking for something to confirm that the Boston Marathon has always been held on Patriot's Day. It does appear that Renaud took won on April 19, 1909 after taking 13th earlier that year. Location (talk) 21:32, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Always in April, but sometimes the day after Patriot's Day, when the latter fell on a Sunday. Source:  Cheers. Hertz1888 (talk) 01:23, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

The January 9th race was a charity race organized by the AAU to provide aid to the victims of an earthquake in Messina, Italy. It was run over the Boston Marathon course, but instead of ending at the BAA clubhouse on Exeter Street it continued to the South End Grounds on Columbus Avenue, home of the Boston National League team the Doves (later the Braves), with four laps inside the grounds to add up to 26 miles and 385 yards. The AAU sold tickets for admission to the Grounds, with the proceeds going to earthquake relief. Since the BAA course is now believed to be shorter than its advertised 24 1/2 miles, this course was probably short too. If the course had been certified, it would have been a world best at the new distance. Fowler, as it happens, had set the previous world best at Yonkers nine days earlier, with a time of 2:52:45. A Boston Globe story on the race is reproduced at http://archive.boston.com/sports/marathon/articles/2012/04/10/charity_for_boston_marathon_began_at_home_in_1909/. NoelPRoy (talk) 21:08, 12 June 2016 (UTC)NoelPRoy

1953
Why is 1953 not listed as a course record? Even if it was not a course record maybe there should be a note to explain why this is so. User talk:Carlaude 04:55, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you for catching this. Apparently the listing was missing through oversight and no deeper reason.  It's fixed (after consulting a reliable source); also 1955. Hertz1888 (talk) 06:04, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

2010 winner photo up
Just gotta saw - wow! - for not only the great photo of the 2010 men's winner, but the fact that people are still finishing the race as I write and the photo is already up! (Wish I was there myself,,,) Canada Jack (talk) 18:32, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
 * ...and women's too! Canada Jack (talk) 18:33, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! I love to take photos but rarely get the opportunity to contribute photos to wikipedia. Let me know if you know of things needing pictures for wikipedia in Boston area Gr5 (talk) 15:18, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

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Were world records set in the Boston Marathon?
I see some entries in the table state that a world record was set. IIRC, in the 1970s, I was told there was no world record in the marathon. World records were set on tracks, but courses for races run on roads didn't qualify. Today, there are standards for setting world records for races run on roads. The Boston course fails to meet the standards. So, under current rules, no one can set a marathon world record in the Boston Marathon.
 * When were standards changed for course eligibility for marathon world records?
 * What was the original standards? Each time the standards were changed, what were the new standards?
 * In which periods was it possible to set a marathon world record at the Boston Marathon?

SlowJog (talk) 02:46, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
 * That is partially answered in the article. Before writing the above, I had opened the article, and jumped directly to the list, without reading the article. Sorry about that. Still, additional information would be welcome. SlowJog (talk) 14:37, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I am still trying to find sources for some of these. Hopefully, the first (and although not said explicitly, the third) point are adequately answered in the article now. The second is a bit murkier; from what I can tell, the IAAF accepted records prior to that, but some other organisations did not. Harrias  talk 14:46, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Wrong Photo
The wheelchair photo listed as Andre Viger is actually of Bob Hall 2601:1C0:5500:D370:CA:2C64:3D07:27BD (talk) 03:07, 13 July 2023 (UTC)


 * I think it is Andre Viger because the picture comes from this photo which also includes Lorraine Moller who won the Boston Marathon in 1984 (as did Andre). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorraine_Moller,_unidentified,_Mayor_Raymond_L._Flynn,_Andre_Viger,_unidentified,_unidentified_(9519687500).jpg Gr5555 (talk) 13:48, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Yeah, comparing with other images of the pair, the photo definitely looks more like Viger than Hall. Harrias  (he/him) • talk 14:24, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Still the oldest
"Until 2020, it was the oldest annual marathon in the world"(sic!). This sentence makes no sense. It still is. The cancellation in 2020 doesn't change that. Would you not call Wimbledon the oldest annual tennis tournament? Or the Open Championship the oldest annual golf tournament? dllu (talk) 18:05, 24 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Maybe they mean it was "the oldest marathon that never skipped a year and is still happening today"? Gr5 (talk) 18:58, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

New Divisions
There are a bunch of new Para Athletic divisions that have been added to the Boston Marathon that are not yet listed here. Lower limb impairment, vision impairment, upper limb impairment, etc. Should these new divisions be added here?

Here is the full list: https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/results/champions