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Upset that most of the Boston Marathon is actually outside Boston, Dorchester group starts race that stays almost entirely within city limits
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Comments
Is it only for born and
Is it only for born and raised in Boston?
Run is for everyone
Pioneers is an incredibly diverse run group so all are welcome.
The real Boston Marathon
I remember back in the day when an unorganized group of athletes took on the ultimate challenge. They started in Lower Mills and finished at Broadway having a beer in each of the 26 dives along Dorchester ave. An athletic event that only a true Bostonian could accomplish.
marathon drinking
we used to start at the red sox game, then down to the Rat for one and then we stopped everywhere you could get a drink on beacon st all the way to mary annes. there was a chinese place wtih scorpion bowls along the way so i can never remember making it to mary annes.
hong kong on state street ?
hong kong on state street ?
Where's there a State Street
On the way to Cleveland Circle from Kenmore Square?
You Might Be Not As Drunk Today By The End
This should be the 1980 - 1995 route. I won't get them all but Let's see:
1. Lower Mills Pub.
2. The other bar in Lower Mills that is now The Bowery - (Donovan's?).
3. The Tara Room. - Gone
4. The Ashmont Grille (Pre-cursor to the one there now. Night and Day).
5. Peabody Tavern - Gone
6. Layden's Pub.- Gone
7. Centre Village - Gone
8. Blarney Stone
9. Emerald Isle - Gone
10 Cuchlain's (No rear door in case of a fire)- Gone
11. The Leedsville Cafe. - Gone
12. Glass Top / 1310 (Now Blend and not the Lesbian Biker Cocaine Bar it was in the 80's)
13. Adelphia Lounge (Today's DBar) - Then a Country Western Bar.
14. Nash's Pub. - Gone
15. JJ's
16. The Harp and Bard.
17. Vaughn's (Now The Banshee).
18. The Dot - Just Closed
19. Three Aces - Gone
21. The Sports Connection
22. The bar where 9 Broadway's entrance is now. - Gone
23. The Quiet Man. - Gone
24. The Cornerstone. - Gone
I know I missed some and I have only been in about 6 or 7 of these over the decades.
Good argument for community is more bars. I guess some hotels needed the licenses for Bill from Wichita in case he needed a drink when he is town for the convention.
Better yet
Get rid of the needless cap on the number of licenses available.
Cool idea!
This is why I love true Bostonians. We’re so damn proud!
Somebody Tried An All Boston City Limits Marathon Before
https://therunnereclectic.com/2015/11/02/the-1983-bostonfest-marathon/
Not quite entirely within Boston city limits
The route map shows a couple of miles in Brookline, up Harvard Street from Route 9 to Allston. (Or maybe the opposite direction.)
Why would this matter to
Why would this matter to someone?
No clue, but apparently it does to them
so it's pretty amusing if they messed that up.
EDIT: Ah, OK, not actually one of their goals. UHub headline was wrong.
Headline changed
I missed the short Brookline jag. The main point of the race remains, however - to go through parts of Boston that the Boston Marathon misses, and I'll go out on a limb and suggest the Brookline jag is to keep from going over the same road twice, given how narrow Boston is between Boston Proper and Allston/Brighton (it's possible - you could have one leg along the Paul Dudley White Path and another along Comm. Ave., but that might introduce bureaucratic issues, given that the path is under the control of DCR).
Only because Adam's headline says it stays within city limits
The race promoters and WGBH don't actually make any such claim.
WGBH also doesn't seem to
WGBH also doesn't seem to know that Brighton is part of Boston (as the route passes through there in between Newton and Brookline).
even though WGBH is located guess where?
Allston.
Allston.
Precedent
It's like the nine dash line and China's claims to the entire South China Sea. Once this route is accepted, we can have a dubious claim to far eastern Brookline.
A local event is great but
A local event is great but before we jump to conclusions about locations, this started 125 years ago. Roxbury, Dorchester and other areas had just been annexed by Boston. This was the era when those brown stones were filled with well to do families and merchants. Do we know why this was the path chosen? Maybe the residents south of Boston wanted nothing to do with having a little fun run clog up their streets. The Boston marathon was not the Boston marathon when it started. It was not even the biggest thing BAA was up to.
Speaking of. The Boston Marathon was initially the American Marathon. Also the BAA Marathon and many variations. The concept of Boston is because of Boston Athletics Association. Until the 90's the word Boston Marathon was not even in exclusive usage yet.
The idea of a local run for locals is appealing. The Boston Marathon is not a local Boston thing. It is hosting the Superbowl when your team is not in the race. Fun to check out and cool to have but not really local. I never go to the Boston Marathon but I would go to one in Roxbury and Dorchester. It just feels like there is an assumption that the marathon went out of its way to avoid a part of the city for reasons that did not even exist yet at a time the marathon was created and before it meant anything to anyone.
Marathon route chosen to parallel a railroad line
The story I recall reading is that the organizers picked a route where both the start and finish lines would be along the same railroad route. This was back when the Marathon was only 24.5 miles long and started in Ashland.
I think that's true
The BAA even says so.
The route along Comm Ave is interesting since the road itself was brand new in Newton in 1897 (it was built in 1895). If it had only been a couple of years earlier they would have routed it down Washington Street and Brighton Ave and saved us some dastardly hills!
Thank You Ron
You made a reasoned and logical response to a statement with facts and other logical inferences.
I an going to put this out there and nominate this for one of the dumbest things ever written in UHub:
"It just feels like there is an assumption that the marathon went out of its way to avoid a part of the city for reasons that did not even exist yet at a time the marathon was created and before it meant anything to anyone."
Glad to see the BAA said to themselves with their time machine in 1897 when the race had about 20 to 30 runners that perhaps it should avoid the still quasi-estatey Blue Hill Avenue and those still rural parts of Dot so we can be racist in 2021.
I think you missed the point,
I think you missed the point, and that you and that quote are in agreement.
They should make a true
They should make it a true citywide race and build a floating bridge to East
Boston
Paul Revere Triathalon
The catch is you don't know until the start of the race if the first leg is running or swimming and have to check the church tower.
One Problem
None of Paul Revere's ride was actually in the then Town of Boston as it was extant in 1775.
William Dawes on the other hand, at least he got on horse to as far what is now Northampton Street before going into the Town of Roxbury.
This is pretty cool.
This is pretty cool.
NYC marathon goes through all 5 boroughs.
Chicago Marathon hits both the rich and poor neighborhoods.
Boston does neither.
Boston Marathon began, on
Boston Marathon began, on (roughly) its current route, in 1897.
Chicago in 1977
.
NYC in the early 70's, entierly within Central park. It adopted it's current route in 1976.
The comparisons & equivalencies below make no sense.
Good luck running to East
Good luck running to East Boston without leaving Boston. Unless they want to route the marathon through the tunnel.
As others have noted
The route of the Boston marathon was set out decades before any other American city (Yonkers excepted) even thought about having one. Even predates the current length, just ask the people of Ashland about that.
Nothing against trying to keep the run in Boston, but if Chicago started their race during the McKinley administration, it probably would have started at or to the north of Evanston rather than the route it has.