Historedia
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Inaugural Boston Marathon

When
1897-04-19
Where
Boston, Massachusetts
Part of
First Boston Marathon won by John McDermott

John McDermott won the first Boston Marathon on April 19, 1897, with fifteen starters, including six from New York.

McDermott, weighing 124 pounds, completed the 24.5-mile course in 2:55:10. This time was faster than the Olympic marathon winner's time, leading to immediate claims of a world record, though the IAAF later disputed this due to course length.

Sources

  1. John McDermott (runner) Wikipedia, revision of 2025-10-18
  2. 1897 Boston Marathon Wikipedia, revision of 2025-09-16

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.