The Boston Marathon 2001 - New England Travel

Guest Author - Jeanne Daigle

The Boston Marathon began in 1897. It is the world's oldest annually run marathon. In that first year 15 runners started the race with 10 actually finishing. John J. McDermott won with a time of 2:55:10.

The Boston Marathon is held on Patriot's Day every year. The wheelchair race starts at 11:45 am and the runners begin at 12:00 pm.

This year I decided to go watch the Boston Marathon instead of watching it on TV. I searched around and found that the Boston Herald listed advice on where to watch the race. I wanted to be near the end of the course as I wanted to get some pictures. So, I headed to Beacon Street. I managed to position myself between miles 23 and 24. Now, the Boston Herald mentioned that to get a good spot you had to arrive early. It didn't say how early though. I arrived at 10am. I brought a friend with me and she wasn't too happy. We were way too early. What I found out was I could have arrived at my Beacon Street location around 12:30 pm and still would have had a good viewing position. So we sat around in our little chairs watching the world go by. I did bring a radio so we knew what was going on, who was leading, where the marathoners were, etc. By the way, BostonMarathon.org will send updates of the race as it is happening to your email, cell phone, or pager. It's a great way to find out how your friend or loved one is doing.

I wouldn't bother trying to view the race from the start or finish line. You will be in competition with the media and friends and family of the runners. My goal was to take pictures of the marathoners, so I was near the end of the race were the runners were more likely to be spread out.

So, here are some of my pictures…

After the race started people began to gather around waiting for the runners to come by. I turned around to see Bullwinkle! Ok, it's not Bullwinkle, but another moose bearing a striking resemblance.

The wheelchair race begins 15 minutes before everyone else. They go up to 20 miles an hour and sped by me about 30 to 45 minutes before the first marathoners.

Here are Joshua Chalang'a, Bong-Ju Lee, Silvio Guerra battling it out for first, second, and third places.
	Catherine Ndereba. She finished first for the second year in a row. Fans are calling her "Catherine the Great".