A crowd of 4,025 runners started the 13.1 mile loop course within the City of Boston and Town of Brookline's famed Emerald Necklace park system.
1972 - Women Official Entrants in Marathon
Although Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon in 1966, it was not until the 1972 Boston Marathon that women could become official entrants due to a change in AAU rules.