Motley Marathon

On Patriots' Day (April 19, the Battle of Lexington), half a million citizens lined the long road from Hopkinton, Mass, to Boston (26 miles 385 yds.) to cheer as mixed a crew of visitors as ever raced through New England. As 160 runners jostled into the start of the 59th Boston Athletic Association Marathon,/- swarthy Latin complexions shaded off into yellow Oriental tints and the pink-white of Scandinavian skins. Bostonians could cheer for Canada, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Japan, Finland, Sweden or the U.S.

Teacher in a Hurry. Half an hour before the race, runners, trying to warm up in the rain, began to jog toward the starting line on the hill where the wet macadam of Highway 135 reaches toward Boston. The starter's gun barked at the stroke of noon. "Look at those guys," said a newsman astonished by the first scrambling sprint for position. "They've got million-dollar legs and five-cent heads." But by the time the field reached the first check point in Framingham, the tangle had unwound. The nickel noggins had dropped back; a Staten Island, N.Y. schoolteacher named William Welsh was striding easily in the lead. Close on the pace, a scant 100 yards back, came Eino Pulkkinen, a smooth-running Finn, and Nick Costes, a Natick, Mass, schoolteacher who finished ninth last year. Almost unnoticed, in 13th place was Hideo Hamamura, 26, a light (132 lbs.) little Japanese clerk. Last time he had run himself out in the early stages, and finished sixth. Now he was taking it easy.

In Natick Nick Costes' students pleaded from the roadside: "Hurry, Mr. Costes." He obliged. At Wellesley Square he had the lead. He was running like a man who had studied the style of Czech Distance Ace Emil Zatopek--a sprint, then a stretch of jogging, then another sprint.

Veteran in the Rear. Up "Heartbreak Hill," the steep slope near Boston College, Pulkkinen began to turn it on. He passed Costes, but he could not hold the pace. Behind him, and gaining steadily, was Hamamura, the tireless Japanese. When he passed the Leyden Congregational Church, Hamamura was in front. At Coolidge Corner, the last check point, he was right up with the course record set by his countryman, Keizo Yamada, in 1953. "Record, y'understan'? Record!" screamed a reporter from the press bus. Hamamura, who understood not a word, grinned back, a gold tooth glinting through the mist.

Hamamura sprinted across the finish line at the Lenox Hotel with such momentum that Mayor John Hynes had to run after him before he could crown him with the traditional laurel wreath. Hamamura's time: 2:18.22, just 29 seconds better than Yamada's record. Third, back of Pulkkinen, Nick Costes clocked the fastest American time (2:19.57) since Vic Dyrgall finished second in 1952. Way back in 24th place was U.S. Veteran John Kelley, 47, who earned the laurel wreath twice (1935 and 1945), in the days before the foreigners took over the Patriots' Day marathon. Since 1945, the race has been won by a Greek, two Koreans, a Canadian, a Swede, a Guatemalan, a Finn and three Japanese.

/- The distance covered by Athenian Courier Pheidippides in 490 B.C., when he raced from the plain of Marathon to the outskirts of Athens with news that Darius the Mede had been defeated.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.