The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MASTERS POSTPONED
The Masters golf tournament, held in Augusta in April, became the latest major international sporting event postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. A new date for the Masters has not been set.
The Boston Marathon on Friday was postponed for five months due to the coronavirus pandemic, sacrificing the customary Patriots Day start in the hopes of preserving the uninterrupted 124-year tradition of the world’s most prestigious long-distance run.
In delaying the marathon from April 20 to Sept. 14, the city avoids for now an event that draws more than 30,000 runners from around the world, packs them in buses and starting corrals and then sends them off on a 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston’s Back Bay. An estimated 1 million people line the course as it winds through eight cities and towns, high-fiving, hugging and even kissing the runners along the way.
The Boston Marathon has never been canceled since the first edition in 1897, when 15 men drew a starting line in the dirt in Ashland and headed for the city to commemorate the first modern Olympic Games the previous year.
In 1918, the format was modified to a relay race due to World War I; the 2013 race was stopped when two bombs exploded at the finish line, several hours after the winners had finished but while many runners were still on the course.
“We’ve shown before that whatever the challenge to our marathon and to our city, we are Boston Strong,“Mayor Marty Walsh said at a news conference Friday, when the city’s signature event joined virtually every college or professional league worldwide in canceling or postponing competition.
“The marathon is Boston. It connects us. It reflects us. It brings out our community spirit and our resiliency.”
“The B.A.A. understands the city’s decision that the Boston Marathon cannot be held on April 20, 2020,” race organizers said in a statement. “We offer our full support to take all reasonable efforts to postpone.”
It is the first time that the race won’t be held in April. For the first 49 years, the marathon was held on April 19, the anniversary of the first Revolutionary War battles in Lexington and Concord, or on the 20th if Patriots Day fell on a Sunday.
The state holiday was changed to the third Monday in April in 1969. The race has been on that day ever since — traditionally with the Red Sox playing in the morning so the baseball fans can wander over to Kenmore Square after the game to see the runners pass by with 1 mile to go.
“It won’t look right on the calendar,” Gov. Charlie Baker said. “But it’s the right thing to do.”
The new date moves the race from the spring season to a crowded fall, with the London, Paris and Barcelona marathons also postponing until after the summer over COVID-19 concerns; Rome’s race was canceled.
And it would come about one month after the world’s top runners are expected to — but with diminishing certainty — line up for the Olympic marathon in Japan.
Because of the distance’s physical toll, most elite marathoners run no more than two races per year.