The Boston Marathon – Monday 18th April

The third Monday in April is Patriot’s Day in the United States, or in Boston, more commonly known as Marathon Monday. This is the race all serious marathoners aspire to run. A member of the championship-style World Marathon Majors series (along with London, Chicago, Berlin and New York), the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon race, and requires athletes to qualify by running a previous certified course in a challenging set time – 3hrs 05mins for 18 – 34yr males, for example. Simply qualifying for Boston is a huge achievement in itself, hence its billing as a “people’s Olympic race”, though a small proportion of places are open to charity runners of all abilities.