BOSTON MARATHON POSTPONED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 14
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2020 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

(13-Mar) -- The Boston Marathon, the world's oldest marathon founded in 1897, has been postponed to Monday, September 14, Boston mayor Marty Walsh said at a press conference this morning. The original date of Monday, April 20, became untenable due to the threat of coronavirus.

"We're here today to announce that the 2020 Boston Marathon will be postponed until... Monday, September 14th, of this year," Walsh said at a news conference this morning in Boston.  "Our expectation, and it's an expectation and a hope right now, is that this date will get us to a safer place in relation to the spread of the coronavirus."

Flanked by Boston Athletic Association executive director Tom Grilk, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker, president and CEO of John Hancock Marianne Harrison, and other government officials he continued: "Our priority right now is to ensure the health and safety of the runners, of the fans, of the medical personnel, first responders, residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, visitors from across the country, visitors from across the world. We want to make sure that we keep people safe."

The Boston Marathon, which has been held 123 consecutive times (although it was a military relay in 1918), is the latest major running event to be either cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus threat.  In the last several days, big road races like the Berlin Half-Marathon (28,454 finishers last year), Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8-K in Chicago (20,589), and United Airlines NYC Half (24,659) have all cancelled for 2019.  A smaller group of spring races have postponed to the fall, like the World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships, Barcelona Marathon, and Lisbon Half-Marathon.  The NCAA Indoor Championships (all three divisions) was hastily cancelled yesterday even though most teams had already traveled to the host cities.

Also, Governor Baker said that the new date would be a state holiday, in the same way that the event's traditional day, Patriots Day, is.  The holiday will be called Marathon Monday, Baker said.

"Marathon Monday brings some of the greatest athletes here to compete in one of the world's greatest races," the governor told reporters.  He continued: "So, while it may be hard to believe that I'll be filing a bill soon to make September 14th this year's Marathon Monday, I think it's important to point out that in conversations with both the house and senate leadership there was almost an immediate desire to make sure we preserve this very special day here in the Commonwealth."

Runners who have been training for months to compete on April 20, might be tempted to continue their training and show up at the Hopkinton starting line and run the course unofficially, but Mayor Walsh strongly discouraged that.

"One thing I want to be clear about, I want to discourage anyone from trying to run the course on April 20th," Walsh intoned.  "I know that runners had their training plan set for that date, but the roads will not be closed for crowds.  First responders will not have the ability to be working on those routes because they're going to be tied up with what's happening right now with the coronavirus, and also doing their regular order of business."

The Boston Marathon has an economic impact of over $200 million, and by postponing the race city and state officials hoped to preserve some of that spending.  Governor Baker said that he hoped many of the over 30,000 registrants could shift their plans to come to Boston in September.

"You'll have a chance to run in an historic, once in a lifetime race in September, and hope that all the runners and people embrace it," the governor said.  He added: "The marathon is Boston."


PHOTO: Mayor Marty Walsh (at the podium) speaks to reporters to announce that the 2020 Boston Marathon will be postponed until September.  (screen grab from CBSN)