Posted on 10/05/2004 11:40:40 AM PDT by americaprd
Recently, Football Fans for Truth learned that John Kerry claimed a significant achievement: qualifying and running the Boston Marathon.
In an ESPN interview, he said, "I ran a marathon back in '80, something like that. Did the Boston Marathon."
An ESPN analysis of his athletic achievements mentions that "[he] ran the Boston Marathon in the 1970s".
In its November 2004 issue, Runner's World observes that John Kerry "[ran] the Boston Marathon in the '70s".
In April 2002, John Kerry was the starter for the Boston Marathon. The Daily Free Press reports that Senator Kerry "lamented the fact that time constraints had made it impossible for him to run in the Marathon, which he participated in 20 years ago."
In a conversation with a Iowa state senator, John Kerry said, "I remember my first Boston Marathon ... it's a great run."
In a later article, ESPN tried to nail down the exact date and reported that "there's no official record of his feat, and his campaign did not provide further details despite repeated inquiries." The November issue of Runner's World reports that "he doesn't recall his time, and no official record exists".
While we hold that John Kerry is not fit to be sports-fan-in-chief, Football Fans for Truth will alert their many readers to John Kerry's Boston Marathon run as evidence of our dedication to honesty and openness. But we're not sure exactly when this event occurred. Did he run it twice, once in the 70s and once in 1980, or once in 1980 and once in 1982? When did he qualify for the marathon?
We aren't too surprised that John Kerry doesn't remember his time. After all, he can't remember the name of an historic football stadium or current baseball players, so how can we expect him to remember an event that happened 20....no, 22...no, 24 or 25, maybe?...years ago?
Boston put in qualifying standards in 1970 because the number of entrants was getting out of hand...1,152 in 1969. The original standard was 4 hours, reduced to 2:50 for the men's open division by 1979, when Kerry supposedly ran. I ran as a bandit in '79 and '80, didn't see Kerry either time...'course I wasn't exactly looking for him.
If Kerry qualified, the time commitment and the run itself would be seared in his memory...Even if he ran as a bandit there is no way he would forget when it was. I don't believe a word of it. Don't look for the Boston Athletic Association to have the records on this, they were lax about preserving their history until about 1990 when they started to take an interest, realizing the value of it as their 100th running approached in 1996.
Yep. My dh and I both run and we know our times AND the dates. DH even knows his time from his first marathon back in 1988. I don't buy it.
Thanks. Great find on the Imus stuff.
Just called them and they said they have an official book that lists the times. However I didn't ask them when they started publishing the book of participants. If someone's in Boston they could drop by and look through the old books. Another idea would be to go back through old papers for the dates around the marathon event and look for John Kerry's coverage. Wasn't he working for Gov. Michael Dukakis back then?
"Yeah and he's a double-ought spy too..."
Jethro would be the first to tell you that it's "double-naught spy", not "double-ought".
And watch out for Ellie Mae's double-barrel slingshot, too.
Can these morons tell the truth about anything?
You can search back 'till 1979, so I merely searched on "John Kerry" marathon.
I received 50-some odd hits and paid to view up to 3 full articles (excerpts appear in the basic search).
Since we may only post excerpts here, I'll post the three articles I did view for those who care to pick up the standard and check out others in search (vainly, I fear) of any definitive "John Kerry ran the Boston Marathon" reports in past editions of the Globe.
#1-"Sports" section item, by Dan Shaughnessy, April 20, 1982
"Marshall Medoff was in a good mood when the 86th Boston Marathon wound down in the Prudential garage yesterday afternoon. He spent a good part of the post-race rush hour wading through an ocean of exhausted runners, interviewing competitors and slurping from a cup of yogurt - one of 12,500 donated by the Columbo Co. of Methuen..."
KERRY CONTENT (paraphrase): Then-Lt. Gov candidate Kerry had a plane fly an aerial ad over the race course/finish line area.
SHORT CIRCUITS Author(s): Reported by Globe staff writers. Date: April 27, 1986 Page: A29 Section: FOCUS
"As the Boston Marathon prepared to get under way last week, US Sen. John Kerry, who was to serve as starter for the wheelchair division, took an exit off Interstate 495 that was closed to all but official vehicles..."
SUMMARY: Kerry picked up the racers and took them to the wheelchair starting point.
THANKS TO MCGILLIVRAY, A FINE START Author(s): Michael Vega, Globe Staff Date: April 19, 1988 Page: 56 Section: SPORTS
"HOPKINTON -- There were no pratfalls -- not anything resembling a single slip-up -- at the start of yesterday's 92d Boston Marathon..."
KERRY CONTENT: Kerry was the official starter for the wheelchair race, a ceremonial position he seems to have held more than once in the past.
Odd, too, that he doesn't mention the details of his involvement with the race. One would think his involvement with wheelchair-bound participants in the past is something he'd at least mention in passing when discussing his past involvement with the race.
bump for publicity
Y'know, he had a chance at getting away with this until he threw in the "qualified" part. Thousands of bandits run the race every year. I don't know what the BAA does with them at the finish line, but they probably let 'em slide through.
I ran and finished Boston 4x in the late-70s/early-80s. I know my finish times.
AM1776 pointed out the VERY tough qualifying standards during that time. You don't just show up, not even if you're a well-connected politician. Will Cloney, the race director during that time period, simply would not have allowed it, and any politician asking for the favor would have been embarrassed in the press.
Simple Q to Mr. Kerry, "OK, I'll believe you ran, I'll believe you finished, and I'll even believe you don't remember your time, IF, IF, IF, you can tell me what marathon you ran in to qualify for Boston, and when."
Prediction: He won't answer, or will claim to not know or remember. This is not possible without Alzheimers. His only "vague" answer might be that he ran a "few" marathons in the year he qualified. OK, big guy, name them.
This is actually WORSE than Christmas in Cambodia to me.
It is something a LOT of people can relate to, and it would appear it doesn't even pass the smell test.
Excellent post, Kerry even lied about using the word Liar about Bush, said it was too harsh a term. Is that what it means to use nuance?
Maybe Kerry competed under his Kenyan name?
If John Kerry can not even remember wether he was in Cambodia for Christmas during his short four months in VietNam, than how can we ever expect John Kerry to remember when he ran in a Marathon. ( rolls eyes, and said with much sarcasm)
That's funny, because there was an American guy (not Kerry) in the late-70s early 80s who DID take on a Kenyan's name and try to use the identity to get race favors like hotels, etc. I never quite figured out his angle, and he got caught pretty quickly.
I'll bet Football Fans for the Truth never dreamed they'd get into an honest-to-goodness campaign controversy. They've got one now. Way to go, guys.
Thanks.
If Kerry ran as claimed in 1982, according to one of the earlier statements (the sentence from 2002 that says "20 years ago"), it was one of the years when 2:50 was required.
Not only was the time difficult, but you had to have run it sometime from the beginning of the previous calendar year until about March 1 of the current year. You don't get a lifetime pass if you just did it once a couple of years earlier.
So his qualifying time period would have been 1/1/81 to 3/1/82. This further limits the realm of possibility.
Can't resist: Anyone who has finished Boston (especially just once) has their finish time SEARED....SEARED into their memory.
But the Globe printed a list of EVERY official finisher the day after the race, and anyone with the patience and a ridiculous amount of time could search the fiche records at the library.
It would be about as much fun as going through ANG docs.
I have walked around the block a couple of times
WOW. you have almost-successfully eliminated the period from 1979-forward, which is significant.
It also has the side benefit of showing that there is no record of him having run a qualifying marathon (sub-2:50 or sub-3:00, depending on the year), at least in the area. Of course, he could have done one anywhere else in the country, but even then there's a chance the Globe would have picked it up and noted it, especially since Kerry's the type to have wanted the acheivement of having qualified reported.
Edwards' marathons:
1982 Marine Corps - 3:37:16
1983 Marine Corps - 3:30:18
1994 Camp Lejeune - 4:05
1999 Marine Corps - 4:51
Dubya
1993 Houston - 3:44:52
5k - 20:20
Kerry
"Ran the Boston Marathon in the '70s, but has said he does not recall his time, and no official record exists"
60:50 Falmouth 7 Miler, 1994
Fastest 3-milers in Congress
Senators: John Sununu (R) - 19:47
Reps: Bart Gordon (D) - 18:22
Fastest Female Senator
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) - 33:59
From the current Runners World Magazine.
Plus, didn't Boston require a qualifying marathon time, even back then? So he'd have to have run TWO marathons.
The only way his story makes any sense is if he ran it without officially entering the race, which has been known to happen. But for someone as high-profile (and press-seeking) as Kerry, that seems pretty unlikely.
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