Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Illinois Sending 1,173 to Boston Marathon

Taking the latest look at this Monday's 114th Boston Marathon, the state of Illinois will be well-represented by able-bodied runners as well as some of the best wheelchair racers in the country. The total of registered athletes from our state is now 1,173 through Thursday night, higher than any year I can remember. It's impossible to mention every good runner heading to Beantown from our state, but three who stand out are Dave Walters of Lisle in the M50-54 category, Nancy Rollins of Evanston in the F60-64 group and Kurt Fiene (M45-49) of Elmhurst in the Vision Impaired Division. All three have won or taken second in their category at Boston in the past. Rollins won F60-69 in 2008 and Fiene has won Visually Impaired the past two years. For the total marathon, 26,722 runners, 31 wheelchair racers and 23 handcycle competitors are registered. In the gigantic 18-39 age group (Boston does it this way), women outnumber men 5,942 to 5,446. Men still have the majority in every other age group (five-year increments after 18-39). I'm heading out to Boston on Saturday. I am looking forward to my "fun run" on Monday morning from the fabled hamlet of Hopkinton, MA! Photo of the finish area on Boylston Street was taken the day before the 2009 race.

1 comment:

peversole said...

Good Luck UB! We'll be thinking of you on Monday!