HOPKINTON, Mass. (AP) — Workers zip in and out of the tents that dot the Hopkinton Town Common, flags flutter from the gazebo, and crews assemble the platform where the starter will fire the gun to send the Boston Marathon field on its way. On race day, this otherwise sleepy New England town serendipitously located 26.2 miles from Boston will swell to three times its size.
Once a year for the last 100 years, Hopkinton becomes the center of the running world, thanks to a quirk of geography and history that made it the starting line for the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.
“It wouldn’t be the Boston Marathon without Hopkinton,” said Meb Keflezighi, who was conferred with honorary town citizenship after winning the race in 2014, the year after the finish line bombing. “As the sign says, ‘It all starts here.’”
Although the Boston Marathon was born next door in Ashland, where 15 men toed a line near Metcalf’s Mill in 1897, the start was moved to Hopkinton in 1924 to conform with a new international distance standard. With a field for the 100th anniversary that will top 30,000 runners, the town strains to absorb the crowds and yet still maintains its small-town hospitality year-round.
Related articles:
Related suggestion:
Shi Fu Miz 2023: Hong Kong music & art festival returns to Cheung Chau farm, expands to 3 daysWeather updates: Warnings across South Island, Taranaki, Coromandel, Bay of PlentyHong Kong waste levy to come into effect next AprilVOX POPULI: Seven years on, the Moritomo Gakuen scandal still unexplainedBoeing tells pilots to check seats after LATAM plane incidentHong Kong's exhibition centre axed booking for concert without reason, says proBill to make pseudoephedrinePressure grows on Angela Rayner to quit as Labour deputy leader over housing row police probeVOX POPULI: The war in Ukraine enters its 3rd year with no end in sightEducation Ministry workers on tenterhooks awaiting job cuts news
3.2423s , 6502.921875 kb
Copyright © 2024 Powered by For Boston Marathon's last 100 years, it all starts in Hopkinton ,Worldly Window news portal