Other Initiatives · Honoring Marathon Legends

HONORING MARATHON LEGENDS

The 26.2 Foundation has played a key role in the creation and installation in Hopkinton of sculptures that honor marathon ‘greats.’

The Girl Who Ran

It was Gibb who, in 1966, popped out from behind forsythia bushes in Hopkinton to become the first woman to run Boston.

“As the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, Bobbi Gibb opened up the door for all of us who followed,” noted Samuelson, a two-time Boston champ and winner of the first Olympic Marathon for women in 1984. “Without her courage and determination, we might never have gained the chance.”

Not only is the sculpture of Gibb, it is also by Gibb. She is an accomplished painter and sculptor who studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the mid-1960s - the same year that she began running longer distances.

The Spirit of the Marathon statue depicting Spyridon Louis

Spirit of the Marathon

The first is the 12-foot tall statue that stands at the 1-mile mark of the Boston Marathon route. Commissioned by New Balance, coordinated by the Hopkinton Athletic Association (the former name of the 26.2 Foundation) and unveiled in 2006, the ‘Spirit of the Marathon’ depicts Spyridon Louis, Greek winner of the first modern Olympic marathon, in 1895, showing the way forward.

Flanking him is a fellow Greek, Stylianos Kyriakides, one of Boston’s greatest underdog stories. Kyriakides won the 50th Boston Marathon in 1946 against all odds, having survived the horrors of occupation of WWII Greece. He then turned his achievement into an opportunity to highlight the plight of his nation, still starving and rebuilding from the war.

A twin version of the statue stands in Marathon, Greece, Hopkinton’s sister city.

'The Starter' bronze statue depicting George V. Brown

George V. Brown Statue

A second bronze statue, honoring George V. Brown, legendary starter of the Boston Marathon from 1905 to 1937, now stands on the Hopkinton Common.

Commissioned by the 26.2 Foundation through a state grant and sculpted by local artist Michael Alfano, the statue was unveiled in 2008.

Team Hoyt bronze statue honoring Dick and Rick Hoyt, the famed father-and-son marathoning team

Team Hoyt

The 26.2 Foundation was also instrumental in the development and creation of the Team Hoyt bronze statue honoring Dick and Rick Hoyt, the famed father-and-son marathoning team.

Commissioned by John Hancock and titled ‘Yes You Can!’, the life-sized statue was donated to the town of Hopkinton.

It was sculpted by Mike Tabor, and installed on the front lawn of Hopkinton’s Center School in 2013, just yards from the Boston Marathon starting line.