1973 Boston Marathon (DNF)
1973 Bay State Marathon (2:28:12) 1st Course Record (CR)
1974 Boston (2:19:34) 14th
1974 New York City Marathon (NYC) (2:36:00) 5th
1974 Philadelphia Marathon (2:21:57) 1st CR
1975 Boston (2:09:55) 1st American Record (AR)
1975 Enschede Marathon, Holland (DNF)
1975 Fukuoka Marathon (2:11:26) 3rd
1976 Olympic Trials (2:11:58) 2nd
1976 Montreal Olympics (2:25:14) 40th
1976 NYC (2:10:10) 1st CR
1976 Sedo Island, Japan (2:08:23) 1st CR (200 meters short)
1976 Maryland (2:14:28) 1st CR
1977 Kyoto, Japan (2:14:25) 1st
1977 Boston (DNF)
1977 Amsterdam, Holland (2:12:46) 1st CR
1977 Waynesboro (2:25:12) 1st
1977 NYC (2:11:28) 1st
1977 Fukuoka (2:10:55) 1st
1978 Boston (2:10:13) 1st
1978 NYC (2:12:12) 1st
1978 Fukuoka (2:12:53) 6th
1979 Boston (2:09:27) 1st AR
1979 Montreal (2:22:12) 15th
1979 NYC (2:11:42) 1st
1980 Boston (2:12:11) 1st
1980 Toronto (2:14:47) 1st
1980 NYC (2:13:20) 5th
1981 Houston-Tennaco (2:12:10) 1st CR
1981 Boston (2:10:34) 3rd
1981 Atlantica-Boavista, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2:14:13) 1st CR
1981 Stockholm, Sweden (2:13:28) 1st
1981 Bank One, Columbus, OH (2:17:34) 7th
1982 Houston (2:14:51) 5th
1982 Tokyo (2:24) 301st
1982 Boston (2:12:38) 4th
1982 Atlantica-Boavista, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (DNF)
1982 Melbourne, Australia (2:11:08) 1st
1983 Orange Bowl, FL (2:15:08) 1st
1983 Boston (2:11:58) 10th
1983 Beijing, China (DNF)
1983 Chicago (2:21:40)
1984 U.S. Olympic Trials (2:13:31) 8th
1985 New Jersey Waterfront (2:14:46) 2nd
1985 NYC (2:15:31) 7th
1986 Boston (2:13:35) 4th
1986 Chicago (2:15:31) 11th
1987 Phoenix (DNF)
1987 Boston (2:18:18) 15th
1987 NYC (2:25:01) 54th
1988 Phoenix (DNF)
1988 Los Angeles ( 2:20:27) 2nd masters
1988 Boston (2:18:17) 2nd masters
1988 NYC (DNF)
Look at the list of high-level marathons Bill Rodgers ran over 16 years. Out of the 11 years that he finished the Boston Marathon, he ran his fastest marathon of the year 10 TIMES. Only in 1982 (when he ran 2:12:38 and placed 4th compared to Melbourne in 2:11:08) did he not run his fastest marathon of the year in Boston. 10 out of 11 years.
Rodgers has two 2:09:XX times ... both are at Boston.
Rodgers has FOUR 2:10:XX times ... two of them are at Boston.
Greg Meyer ran a 2:09:00 at Boston and his second fastest was 2:10:59, and third was 2:13:07. All three were wins. Only the 2:09 was at Boston.
DeCastella was the fastest marathoner in the world in three separate years. He has run one in 2:07, several in 2:08 and 2:09, many in 2:10. His fastest in his long career was his 2:07:51 in Boston in 1986.
For men, in the last 40 years, the fastest marathon of the year has come in Boston FIVE times. Which is surprising in this age of big-money super-fast marathons with waves of pacers.
For women it is EIGHT times since 1980. EIGHT out of 35 years.
Are you starting to think that a tailwind might NOT make you slower?