Scenes from the finish line

The Boston Marathon isn’t just about first place. Crossing the finish line is a personal victory for each runner. Running the full distance from Hopkinton to Boston makes every entrant a winner.

The first Boston Marathon was held in 1897. According to the official BAA site, John J. McDermott won the race in 2:55:10. This was the picture of McDermott as it appeared in the Boston Globe.

In 1907, Tom Longboat from Ontario became the first Native American to win the Marathon. Longboat was a member of the Onondaga tribe. According to Boston.com archives, Longboat finished in 2:24:24 amid a field of 124 runners.

Henri Renaud won the 13th Boston Marathon on April 19, 1909, amid temperatures that reached the upper 90s, notes the Boston Marathon Media Guide. Due in no small part to the punishing heat, Renaud’s winning time was almost 20 minutes slower than the winner of the 1908 marathon.

Legendary runner Clarence DeMar of Melrose crossed the finish line in 1923, taking the third of his seven Marathon victories, according to the BAA official site. His seven wins still stand as a record to this day.

John A. Kelley (“Johnny the Elder’’) won the Boston Marathon in 1935.

1936: Ellison “Tarzan’’ Brown, a Narragansett Native American from Rhode Island, won in 2:33:40. It was in this running of the Marathon that a reporter coined the term “Heartbreak Hill,’’ after Brown overtook John A. Kelley at the infamous spot in Newton, notes the Boston Marathon Media Guide.

The 51st Boston Marathon, held in 1947, marked the first time an Asian won the race. The caption from the following day’s Globe read: “YUN BOK SUH, 24 year old Korean, crosses finish line setting new record in B.A.A. Patriots’ Day Marathon. Note his untied right shoelace. Suh ran the last 13 miles with the loose lace.’’ Suh finished in 2:25:39.

1957: John J. Kelley, known as “Johnny the Younger’’ despite no relation to John A. “Johnny the Elder’’ Kelley, was 26 when he won the 61st Boston Marathon. Kelley set a course record of 2:20:05. He became part of Marathon lore, running Boston 35 times, the last time in 1992, according to the Hartford Courant.

When Eino Oksanen of Finland won in 1961, race officials couldn’t wait to put the laurels on his head.

In 1968, Ambrose J. Burfoot of Groton, Conn., crossed the finish line to win the 72nd annual Boston Marathon with a time of 2:22:17. Burfoot remains an active runner, and is editor-at-large of “Runner’s World.’’

In 1970, Gene Roberts became the Marathon’s first competitor in a wheelchair . Roberts was a Vietnam veteran who lost both his legs in a land mine explosion. The wheelchair competition was finally recognized as official in 1975, according to the Boston Marathon Media Guide.

Nina Kuscsik of New York became the Marathon’s first official women’s division runner in 1972. Kuscsik won in 3:10:26. In just two years, the women’s record fell to 2:42:24, when Liane Winter of Germany won.

Bill Rodgers won the first of three Marathons in a row in 1978. Police helped Rogers just after he completed the race in 2:10:13.

In 1979, Bill Rodgers set a course record of 2:09:27. The record was short-lived. In 1981, Japan’s Toshihiko Seko shaved one second off the record, finishing in 2:09:26.

1980: “The Rosie Ruiz Race.’’ Rosie Ruiz, a 23-year-old New Yorker, was the fist woman to cross the Marathon finish line. It appeared to be the third-fastest time ever recorded by a woman at the Marathon. It was a hoax. According to “Running Times,’’ people from the crowd came forward to say they saw Ruiz jump into the race during the final half-mile. Ruiz was disqualified and the true women’s runner, Jackie Gareau, was given the laurel wreath.

Greg Meyer, 27, won the 1983 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:09:00. He remains the last American male to win the race.

1984: A brother and sister stood arm-in-arm after finishing the 88th Boston Marathon.

1985: The last American woman to win the Boston Marathon, Lisa Larsen Weidenbach, crossed the finish line in 2:34:06.

Competitors helped a fellow runner across the finish line of the 1995 Marathon.

1995: Cosmos Ndeti of Kenya, flanked by thousands of fans, won the 99th Boston Marathon in 2:09:22. He was a full minute ahead of his nearest competitor.

1996 saw the 100th running of the Boston Marathon, which was decked out for the occasion.

In 1998, 50-year-old Zoe Kopolowitz reached the finish line after walking the Boston Marathon route. Despite having multiple sclerosis, Kopolowitz walked the whole way. She finished in just under 31 hours, according to the Associated Press.

One of the finishers of the 2002 Marathon clicked his heels as he crossed the finish line.

In the 2003 Marathon, Kerry Green from Mansfield, Ohio, took his juggling act on the road all the way to the finish.

Finishing the Marathon is cause for celebration! In 2003, Lynn Cook, from West Boxford, did a handstand as she crossed the finish line.

Marathon Love: At the finish line in 2005, Nicholas Giordano of Malden proposed to his girlfriend, Debbie Arduino of Plainville.

2013: Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa is the most recent winner of the men’s division of the Boston marathon. He won the 117th marathon in 2013 in 2:10:22.

Kenyan Rita Jeptoo won last year’s women’s division in the Boston Marathon in 2:26:25.

The picture is from 1992, but there will be plenty of people this year echoing the sentiment.