“Chase begins at noon in Hopkinton – 2392 strong” read the headline for the Boston Sunday Globe’s preview of the 1975 Boston Marathon. The above starting line photo of the record field (22% larger than the year before) shows several runners mentioned in that article. Course record holder Ron Hill, #1 on the far right, is described as past his peak but still capable of a sub 2:16. Tom Fleming (#2) “is a powerful brute, who finished second the last two years and has the potential to take it all.” In sunglasses just behind Fleming is Canadian Jerome Drayton, who had run Boston seven years earlier under his German birth name of “Peter Buniak.” The Globe said “the feeling is he’s ready to unload.”
Runners from 17 different countries competed. Ari-Pekka Gylbing (U98) is described as one of four Finns on hand “and they never can be ignored…” He will cut three and a half minutes off his PR and finish 13th.
Although incorrectly labeling the domestic field as “strong numerically, a bit thin talent-wise,” the Globe identified Steve Hoag (#6, Minnesota’s Twin City Track Club) as among those figuring to lead that pack.
And finally, the article quotes the crusty Jock Semple: “There’s a priest running, Sean Healy from Millrose (#23). He’s not bad and he won the Earth Day Marathon, so he could be a threat.” Healy would finish in 2:36:29.
