Boston Marathon race director completes his 50th Boston Marathon
Dave McGillivray has been making the journey from Hopkinton to Boylston every year since 1973
On Monday afternoon, long after Lawrence Chebet and Peres Jepchirchir stormed to victory through the streets of Boston, race director Dave McGillivray crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon for the 50th time.
It took 1,310 miles to get here, but because of the support and encouragement of family, friends, and colleagues, I was able to finish my 50th Boston Marathon Monday evening. pic.twitter.com/0vh72wop7Q
— Dave McGillivray (@DMSE) April 21, 2022
McGillivray has been an avid runner for most of his life. He’s organized and completed multiple massive charity runs (including an 80-day, 3,452-mile run from Oregon to Massachusetts), competed in nine Ironman triathlons and ran, cycled and swum for a total of 1,522 miles through the six New England states.
The first time McGillivray ran the Boston Marathon was in 1973, when he was 19. He ran it with all the other runners for the next 16 years (including in 1982, when he ran 3:14 while blindfolded and escorted by two guides to raise more than $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts).
In 1988, McGillivray became the technical director for the race, so he began to run the course after the race was finished. He continued doing this every year, even when he became the official race director in 2000. He even ran it in 2019, six months after underoing open heart surgery.
“Hard to put into words, 50 years have gone by so fast,” McGillivray told CBS Boston at the finish line. “But I have been blessed with being able to do a lot of this for charity, give back to a lot of different causes, and that’s what I hope my legacy is someday. Being able to help those in need.”