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New Yorker John J. McDermott Won the first Boston Marathon in 1897



The very first Boston Marathon was held on April 19, 1897, inspired by the first modern Olympic Games held the previous year in Athens, Greece.

The race was organized by Boston Athletic Association's John Graham, who has also coached the Boston Olympians and had been inspired by the Olympic marathon race in Athens, which had been won by a Greek sheepherder.

The initial field in 1897 Boston consisted of fifteen runners, of whom ten would finish the race, according The Boston Globe, while the Louisville Courier Journal later reported that there were "30 starters, and 23 finished the race."

Thomas E. Burke, who won first place in the 100 and 440 yard races at the Athens Olympics in 1896, was the official starter of the race.

"At 12:15, Tom Burke scrapped his foot across the narrow street in front of Metcalf's Mill and called the contestants numbers," reported The Boston Globe.

John J. McDermott of the Pastime Athletic Club of New York won the first Boston Marathon, finishing the 25 mile course in two hours, fifty-five minutes and ten seconds. J.J. Kiernan of the St. Bartholomew A. C. in New York finished second.

McDermott apparently lost nine pounds running the race, and afterwards said, "This will probably be my last long race. I hate to quit now, because I will be called a quitter and a coward, but look at my feet," he told The Boston Globe in its April 20, 1897 story. "Do you blame me for wanting to stop it? I only walked about a quarter of a mile in the whole distance, and it was 20 miles before I lagged a step. I think I shall be all right tomorrow.

The 1897 race started in Ashland and finished at Irvington Oval near Copley Square in Boston, which had a 220 yard track. There BAA officials had organized an entire track and field meet, seeking to duplicate the spirit of the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens.

Among the most talked about races was the 100 yard dash, which had a stellar field that included Tom Burke of Boston University, J.S. Quinn and W.J. Holland from Boston College, Frank Quinlan from Fordham University, and D.C. Byers of Yale. Holland won the race, and his BC teammate Quinn took second.

McDermott's brief but shining moments in the early American marathon are fascinating. According to a Buffalo Commercial newspaper story on April 6, 1901, the Boston Marathon was the second marathon to take place in the United States.

"The first race was held in fall 1896, from Stamford CT to New York, and was won by John J. McDermott. of the Pastime A.C," wrote the Commercial. "Many of the Boston men who started in that contest maintained that they had been drugged.

"Any doubts entertained as to true sterling qualities of the winner, McDermott, were pelled the next spring. On Patriots Day (1897) B A. A. held its first Marathon run, and there were a number of New Yorkers among the starters. Little McDermott had been entirely overlooked as a possibility until Dick Grant and Harrison Gray, who had been running a pretty race, were overhauled at Newton lower Falls, and the little flyer in black from the Pastime A.C. flashed past the pair. From that point on...his victory was assured."

McDermott returned to Boston in 1898 and finished fourth.

For more on Boston's Irish history and heritage, visit IrishHeritageTrail.com.

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin

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