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Editorial

Marathon: Abolish the Boston asterisk

  April 16, 2012

Under the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations, world records can’t be set on a marathon course where the elevation drops as much, or where the start and finish lines are as far apart, as on the Boston course. Yet while the association sees these standards as sufficient reason to deny last year’s Boston winner, Geoffrey Mutai, a distinction he deserves, the world’s elite runners all knew that the official men’s record - nearly a minute slower - had become a hollow one.

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