Historedia
AmericasEvent

First Boston Marathon won by John McDermott

When
1897
Where
Boston, Massachusetts
Episodes
1

The inaugural Boston Marathon occurred on April 19, 1897, featuring fifteen starters. John McDermott won the race with a time of 2:55:10, which was initially claimed as a world record despite course length discrepancies. The event established the foundation for the marathon race known as the Boston Marathon.

Episodes

  1. 1897-04-19 · Boston, MassachusettsInaugural Boston Marathon

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

Background and detail

Background. The 1897 Boston Marathon was the first edition of the race that later became known as the Boston Marathon. It took place on April 19, 1897, running from Ashland to Boston, Massachusetts, over a distance of 24.5 miles. This distance was shorter than the standard marathon distance, affecting record claims.

Results. McDermott finished with a time of 2:55:10, which was three minutes and forty seconds faster than Spiridon Louis’ time at the Olympic Games. This performance was immediately claimed as a world record, though the IAAF does not consider it a world record due to the course length.

People involved

Sources

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

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.