Mondo Knows Facts
The Boston Marathon is the oldest annual marathon
The first race was run in 1897, inspired by the 1896 Olympic marathon
The first Boston Marathon was held on 19 April 1897, a year after the first modern Olympic marathon in Athens inspired its organisers. It is run on Patriots' Day each year and is the oldest annual marathon in the world.
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Tags: marathon, boston, running
The Boston Marathon is the oldest annual marathon: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The first race was run in 1897, inspired by the 1896 Olympic marathon. The figure is taken from Boston Athletic Association, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a sports fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Sports shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.