This article has been updated.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Thursday that the city is calling off the 124th running of the Boston Marathon.
The storied race had originally been reschedued to Sept. 14 because of the COVID pandemic.
But the mayor said that even the September date was just not feasible for public health reasons.
“There’s no way to hold this usual race format event without bringing large numbers of people into close proximity,” Walsh said.
Holding the race in person would be irresponsible, Walsh said. Instead, the mayor said, the race will be held remotely.
“While we can’t bring tens of thousands of people to Massachusetts, we hope to bring the sprit of the Boston Marathon to the world,” said Tom Grilk, the CEO of the Boston Athletic Association.
“The issues surrounding the coronavirus continue to be urgent, to be challenging and perhaps worst of all, ever-changing,” Grilk added. “As such, we understand the decision to cancel the in-person, mass participation marathon for Sept. 14, the marathon as we have known it. We at the BAA are planning an historic virtual marathon that will feature an entire week of event and activities for our athletes and supporters to participate in.”
He said runners who had signed up for the race will get a refund. And finishers of the virtual race will receive what runners would traditionally expect, like the Marathon shirt and unicorn medal.
Walsh praised the BAA and city officials for leading the way in preventing cases of the coronavirus when they made the initial decision to postpone the race.
“At the time, it was a forward-thinking decision and it was the right decision," Walsh said. "It helped set the tone for major decisions nationwide, and we should be proud of that."
Walsh also acknowledged that starting Monday, Boston offices can begin reopening for some employees. This is a week later than the state allowed employers in other parts of Massachusetts to begin bringing back workers.
“We asked for the extra time because of the size of Boston’s commercial sector, and the unique role we have to play in the region’s working and commuting patterns,” the mayor said. “We wanted landlords and employers and building managers to have the time to make plans, and we wanted to develop detailed resources to strengthen those plans.”
The mayor said the city has published guidelines for keeping workers, clients and customers as safe as possible during the gradual reopening process. He said there isn’t a mandate for reopening, but a list of best practices.
Walsh told employers that nothing close to normal routines will be possible until a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19 is developed. “That’s why everyone who can work from home should continue to work from home, and we’re stressing that,” he added.
Thursday was also the first day to submit applications for what the city calls its “healthy grant” program, a $6 million fund to provide small businesses with personal protective equipment (PPE), plexiglass petitions and other safety measures.
Amanda Nurse, a runner and coach who has participated in multiple Boston Marathons, said most of her runners that she's spoken to knew this announcement was inevitable.
She said it was a good decision to call the Marathon off before too many people had gotten too deep into training or had booked flights or hotels.
"I think the really hard part about it being postponed (back in March) was that people had already gotten to the height of their training," she said. "It happened so fast I think it took people by surprise. And we just all assumed, 'Oh, by September, everything will be back to normal.' But of course, at this point, it's still not and there's really no end in sight. So I think they made the right decision, I'm glad they made it sooner [rather] than later."
For now, she's telling runners she works with to look into smaller marathons that may have a shot to still go on just to have something to train towards, and they can pivot as needed. And while the BAA is pushing the virtual marathon, Nurse acknowledged it has to be frustrating to those who can't get the full experience of running Boston.
Plus, Nurse said she believes calling the race off may have residual impacts on next year's marathon.
"I think 2021 is gonna be a really tough year to get into Boston," she said. "I think we'll see that the qualifying standards, there'll be so many people that have those standards since they didn't get to run in 2020 and then all of the newest qualifiers in this past year, too. I think it's gonna be a really competitive race and it will hard for people to get in."
Chaz Davis, who ran in the 2016 Paralympics, was looking forward to this being the year the Boston Marathon had competitive divisions for para athletes for the first time ever. It's the first major marathon to include such categories.
Now, that dream will have to be put off for at least another year.
"I was just excited for that race and getting to run in front of a lot of my friends and family because I am from Massachusetts. And just really getting to be put on that national stage and have it be linked to the Boston Marathon and that's the race that was selected to kind of set the tone, I guess, for this elite para racing in the United States, I just found that to be a pretty cool prospect," he said.
"The fact that it will have to be pushed back, and hopefully just 'til 2021, I just think it's all the better to look forward to and kind of celebrate when that does happen."
Right now, Davis' main goal is to qualify for the Paralympic Games in 2021. The Boston Marathon was originally supposed to serve as the U.S. Paralympic Team selection event for the marathon distance.
Now, it's unclear what that qualifying process will be.
"There are just a lot of moving pieces that are still happening right now and I think I'll probably be able to get more answers in the next few months," he said. "But right now I think my focus is just on what I can control and that's just staying in shape the best way that I can."
Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to Boston Athletic Association CEO Thomas Grilk as Thomas "Grill." WGBH News apologizes for the error.
