The Boston Marathon won’t be held for the first time in 124 years — the Boston Athletic Association and city mayor Marty Walsh announced the cancellation of the iconic 26.2-mile race that was already postponed to September because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“While our goal and our hope is to make progress in containing the virus and recovering our economy,” Walsh tweeted on Thursday, “this kind of event would not be responsible or realistic on September 14 or any time this year.”
The silver lining, at least? Runners will get an opportunity to complete the race in 2020 virtually.
According to the BAA, everyone originally registered for the race that was set for its usual Patriots’ Day in April will be offered a full refund, and will get to run “in the virtual alternative” anytime in the week of September 7th through the 14th.
Here’s more:
Participants in the virtual 2020 Boston Marathon will be required to complete the 26.2 mile distance within a six hour time period and provide proof of timing to the B.A.A. All athletes who complete the virtual race will receive an official Boston Marathon program, participant t-shirt, medal, and runner’s bib.
The details on exactly how all of that works are coming soon. But my favorite part of all this is the “downloadable toolkit” that will have “a printable finish line, winner’s breaktape, and more.”
That will make for some incredibly cool moments on photo and video.
