The Boston Marathon, April 17 2017

I started producing the Boston Marathon race coverage and “World Feed” back in 2009. This year the race aired in 175 countries, and on NBC SportsNet, here in the US. There were 30,000 stories of dedication, inspiration and pure joy in the 121st running of the oldest and most prestigious road race on the world Marathon calendar. Here are a few that made headlines on April 17…

They call him the “Swiss Silver Bullet”. Marcel Hug was born with Spina Bifida and, in his youth, began competing in wheelchair race events in Switzerland. Now he dominates the sport. Hug was back to defend his Boston Marathon Wheelchair Push Rim title in 2017. He did so, shattering the course record…

Kathrine “KV” Switzer was fearless back in 1967. Then, as a 20-year-old Junior at Syracuse University she submitted an application to run in the “males only” Boston Marathon. “KV” was assigned race number 261. It led to one of the great events in the history of running and changed the sport forever…

The year was 1968 and a young Harvard Freshman, Bennett “Ben” Hastings Beach, set off to run his first Boston Marathon. 50 years later, he’s still running this great race, without missing a start. Since 2002 the runs from Hopkinton to Boylston Street have become much more difficult. That’s when a muscle disorder, later diagnosed as Dystonia, began to affect his stride and slow his pace. Still, he ran the 121st Boston Marathon…

In 2014, Meb Keflezighi ran one of the most memorable Marathons in the history of the sport. A year after the Boston Marathon bombings that stunned the world, Meb became the first American to win the race in 31 years. He says he was running for the victims of those bombings. Before running this year, he announced that this would be his final Boston Marathon…”