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The cheering starts long before Wellesley — or even the starting line. The marathon tradition you might not know about.
“It has so much history and so many small things that make it different and separate it. It’s amazing.”
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The Boston Marathon’s first scream tunnel happens in the lobby of the Fairmont Copley Plaza.
It’s become a tradition for hotel employees, volunteers, Boston Athletic Association staff — pretty much anyone in the vicinity — to line the halls of the Fairmont, which hosts elite runners, just before 7 a.m. on Marathon Monday.
Their task? Making plenty of noise as the pros head out the door.
It’s a little less screaming than you’ll find in Wellesley and a little more clapping. But it breaks the tension, introducing a little fun and levity to the start of such an important day.
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“It’s just one more thing that is special about Boston,” said Canadian Rory Linkletter, who ran a personal best of 2:07:02 to finish sixth. “I said it in the days leading up, the Boston Marathon is to running what the Masters is to golf.
“It has so much history and so many small things that make it different and separate it. It’s amazing.”
Every competitor has a different approach to race morning. As the athletes are corralled into a meeting space at the Fairmont before they head to the buses that will take them to Hopkinton, some are silent and stoic. Others keep it light.
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“I’m more of a social person in the morning before the race, I like to keep my mind loose and off the race,” said Linkletter. “I’m not too stoic and locked in, I like to have fun and stay loose.
“The marathon’s long. You can be too hyper-focused, in my opinion, for too long.”
Des Linden is one of the first through the tunnel, moving quickly with a cup of coffee in hand, preparing to make her last trip from Hopkinton to Back Bay as a professional. Linden was laser-focused on the race, despite announcing her retirement from pro marathoning on social media as soon as she boarded the bus.
“There’s a [Joan] Didion quote — I’ll butcher it — but she said something like, ‘It’s hard to be emotional with your head in a paper bag,’ ” Linden said later. “It’s hard to be emotional grinding out 26.2 miles.”
Some keep it cool amid the applause, but some of the athletes that were headed for the most successful days were all smiles in the morning. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri was grinning ear-to-ear on her way out the door and Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw couldn’t stifle a smile — both finished on the podium.
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A late arrival to the procession was Conner Mantz, who had been a little preoccupied with a friend who’d lost one of their shoes. The eventual top American in the men’s race walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Kylie.
“It was really fun,” Mantz said. “My wife was there, gave her a hug and a kiss, and she wished me good luck. It was exciting.
“Everyone’s different about the morning. I like to talk to people, I had a lot of friends running in the men’s elite field, training partners in the masters and women’s elite field too. It’s fun to be there with everyone.”
Jess McClain, the top American woman on Monday, could be heard saying, “this is making me so emotional!” on her way through. Emma Bates and Keira D’Amato stopped for a hug with friend Ali Feller, a popular running podcaster who serves as the Boston Marathon’s finish-line announcer.
“It’s good to start the day crying,” Feller joked. “I think what these athletes do is remarkable. They work so hard, they run so fast, and it’s hard for a lot of us to comprehend. And so I think to be able to celebrate them up close and personal like that, and send them to the start with a lot of love . . . I think it’s the best. I think that tradition is so cool.”
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It’s over soon after it starts, the applause slowly fading as the last of the elites walks through the Dartmouth Street exit of the Fairmont Copley, a nerve-wracking bus ride to Hopkinton and a much more grueling trip back ahead of them.
But for a moment, the pressure and anxiety are broken by Marathon Monday’s first little moment of joy.
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