At the 1979 Boston marathon, about the biggest field anybody had ever seen stood wet and chilled at the starting line in Hopkinton. I was among the legions who jogged in place – took 48 seconds just to get to the starting line.
Then, still no room to run. My official time was 2:53:18, which I noted in my diary had to be worth no worse than 2:50.
On a day you really wanted to see what you were capable of, a good start would’ve been nice.
A sidebar from Track & Field News. June 1979.
Boston Too Big?
Already the rumors are flying about what measures will be taken to limit Boston’s field in 1980. Surely many world-class runners will avoid the event in that Olympic year, but what’s to keep the crowd down to an intelligent number?
A lower qualifying time is possible: 2:50, or perhaps as low as 2:45 for the open division. The 2:50 seems about right. as some 1600 runners bested that time in this race.
With still just a small percentage of the field made up of women, their 3:30 qualifying time should stand. There is some indication the 40-50 men’s group could be lowered to 3:15. A more practical problem is not how to eliminate the unofficial entries, but how to keep them behind those that have qualified. Better weeding of the field at the starting line is necessary; most of the runners are in place a half-hour prior to the start, so this culling seems possible.
Ideally, some provisions will be made to allow as many people as possible to begin racing when the race begins. Even those runners who managed to cross the starting line within a minute of the gun were still unable to run for perhaps five (5) minutes. Qualified slower runners needed more than five (5) minutes to start. It seems that some computerized plan could be sent of in waves at intervals with the delay automatically subtracted at the marathon’s finish.
It would be further helpful too, if the marathon directors placed huge digital clocks at precisely 5, 10, 15 and 20 miles, so the runners had some intelligent idea of what their pace is. The 26.2M is difficult enough with no 5-mile marks.
I didn’t even work for T&FN yet. But I had something to get off my chest.
I was never ever able to keep up with (below l.-r.)Kevin, Hodgie, BJ, Herm, Johnny, Randy, Vince, Seko, Don and BR.
But I would damn sure like to start (about) the same time they do.
