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.
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?
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.