Boston Marathon 2023: Five of the best races in the history of the Marathon Major

Ah, the Boston Marathon. The oldest of the world’s yearly marathons is also one of the most loved, having produced some of the most memorable sporting moments in history.

This year marks the 127th edition of the Patriots’ Day race, which was first run in 1897 after its organisers took inspiration from the first modern Olympic marathon at Athens 1896. And the 2023 Boston Marathon, which takes place on 17 April, has an added element of excitement, as men’s marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge makes his bow in the capital of Massachusetts.

Over the years, there have been many races that have gone on to reshape the history of, not only the Boston Marathon but marathon racing as a whole.

From the athlete with the most race wins ever to the Boston Marathon's first female winner and runs that just plain and simple wowed the world, here are five of the best Boston Marathons.

Five of the best Boston Marathons

1930 Boston Marathon: Clarence DeMar sets record for most race wins

The most decorated runner in the history of the Boston Marathon also had a cracking nickname: Clarence “DeMarathon” DeMar, as he came to be known, first won the Boston Marathon in 1911, having been told by race doctors a year earlier that he should give up running as a result of a heart murmur.

Just over a decade later, DeMar went on a three-year winning spree in Boston (1922-1924), with the last of those races coming in the same year he won bronze at the Paris Olympic Games. Victories in 1927 and 1928 followed before the last of the American’s wins came in 1930 when he crossed the finish line in 2:34:48.

With no other athlete winning more than four races, DeMarathon is in a league of his own when it comes to Boston Marathon triumphs - and it's unlikely that we’ll see anyone come close to his record anytime soon.

1972 Boston Marathon: Nina Kuscsik wins first official women’s race

In 1966, Bobbi Gibb became the first-ever woman to run the Boston Marathon, after she gatecrashed the male-only race when her application for the event was rejected. A year later, Kathrine Switzer became the first officially-registered woman to run the race, having signed up using her surname and initials. Event organisers just assumed she was a man.

But despite both of these women disproving long-held beliefs that women were incapable of running a marathon, it wasn’t until 1972 that an official women’s race was organised in Boston.

That day, only eight women ran the 42.195km race. But those that did have gone down in history.

The USA’s Nina Kuscsik came home first in a time of 3:10.26, a year after she became only the second woman in history to dip under the three-hour mark when she raced at the New York City Marathon.

Nowadays, thousands of women compete every year in the Boston Marathon and the course record of 2:19:59, set by Ethiopia’s Bizunesh Deba in 2011, is more than 50 minutes faster than Kuscik’s time in 1972. However, none of this would have been possible without the trailblazers who paved the way for women’s marathon runners across the world.

1983 Boston Marathon: Joan Benoit smashes day-old world record in Boston

From one history maker to another, Joan Benoit’s performance in the 1983 Boston Marathon not only made her a bonafide trailblazer but also showed her immense ability to the world a year before she raced and won the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon.

Just a day before the 1983 Boston Marathon, running legend Grete Waitz had set a new world record in the London Marathon, passing the tape in 2:25:29.

But Benoit showed her intentions early in Boston, setting off at a blistering tape that few thought she could sustain.

Her half-marathon time of 1:08:23 was an American record and followed a 10-mile split of 51:38 that was again the fastest ever by a US athlete.

And after successfully navigating the gruelling hills in the second half of the race, Benoit crossed the line in 2:22:42 to slash almost three minutes off Waitz's record from only a day earlier.

2011 Boston Marathon: Geoffrey Mutai sets course record that stands to this day

The Boston Marathon is often cited as one of the toughest of the six Marathon Majors, but Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai made easy work of it in 2011 when he crossed the tape in 2:03:02 to set the men’s course record and - at the time - run the fastest marathon in history.

While the rapid marathon would not be an official world record - Boston’s course layout makes it ineligible for that title - Mutai’s run that day, which was three minutes faster than the previous men’s best, was all the more remarkable due to the fact the Boston Marathon does not allow pacers.

Still, if he did need someone to push him faster, Mutai’s compatriot Moses Mosop was more than willing to do the job. Having never run a full marathon distance race, Mosop stayed neck-and-neck with Mutai throughout the race, finishing just four seconds behind in a time that was the second-fastest at that point in history.

No man has ever beaten Mutai’s effort from 2011. However, with world record holder Kipchoge racing on 17 April, the record could probably see the greatest challenge in its 12-year history.

2014 Boston Marathon: Meb Keflezighi wins first marathon post bombing

There is a poignant element to the 2023 Boston Marathon as it marks 10 years since three people were killed at the finish line after a terrorist bombing.

In 2014, a record crowd filled the streets of the city with many spectators holding signs with the words ‘Boston Strong’ emblazoned across them.

Inspired by the occasion, and with the names of the four victims of the 2013 bombings (a police officer had also been killed in the aftermath) hand-written on his race bib, Meb Keflezighi did what many had thought impossible, becoming the first American to win the race since 1983.

“Towards the end I was a little bit nervous,” Keflezighi said of his victory. “The last two miles were a challenge. I kept thinking, 'Save something, save something!' I prayed a lot. And I thought about how important it is this year. 'Boston strong, Boston strong, Meb strong, Meb strong!' I was thinking.”