Editing Marathon (section)

===Wheelchair division===
[[File:Boston Marathon 2009.jpg|thumb|right|A pack of Wheelchair Division participants in the 2009 Boston Marathon]]

Many marathons feature a wheelchair division. Typically, those in the [[wheelchair racing]] division start their races earlier than their running counterparts.

The first wheelchair marathon was in 1974 in Toledo, Ohio, and it was won by Bob Hall at 2:54.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sports medicine, training, and rehabilitation|volume=3|year=1991|page=95}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Patrick|first1=Dwyne R.|last2=Bignall|first2=John E.|editor=Joseph A. Kotarba|editor2=Andrea Fontana|title=The Existential Self in Society|year=1987|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-45141-0|chapter=Creating the competent self: The case of the wheelchair runner|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/existentialselfi0000unse}}</ref> Hall competed in the 1975 [[Boston Marathon]] and finished in 2:58, inaugurating the introduction of wheelchair divisions into the Boston Marathon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.will.uiuc.edu/tv/documentaries/atw/atwwind1.html|title=The History of Wheelchair Racing at the Boston Marathon|last=Davis|first=Alison|year=1996|work=Against the Wind|publisher=University of Illinois Board of Trustees |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727162220/http://www.will.uiuc.edu/tv/documentaries/atw/atwwind1.html |archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.will.uiuc.edu/tv/documentaries/atw/atwhall.html|title=Interview with Bob Hall|last=Davis|first=Alison|year=1996|work=Against the Wind|publisher=University of Illinois Board of Trustees |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727162448/http://www.will.uiuc.edu/tv/documentaries/atw/atwhall.html |archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref> From 1977, the race was declared the US National Wheelchair championship.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0418/Boston-Marathon-five-historic-moments/First-wheelchair-competitor-1975|title=Boston Marathon: five historic moments|last=Couch|first=Aaron|date=18 April 2011|work=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=20 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110421074212/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0418/Boston-Marathon-five-historic-moments/First-wheelchair-competitor-1975|archive-date=21 April 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The Boston Marathon awards $10,000 to the winning push-rim athlete.<ref name=equipment/> [[Ernst van Dyk]] has won the Boston Marathon wheelchair division ten times and holds the world record at 1:18:27, set in Boston in 2004.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/blog/2010/04/ernst_van_dyk_wins_record_9th.html|title=Ernst Van Dyk wins record 9th wheelchair title|last=Vega|first=Michael|date=19 April 2010|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112200603/http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/blog/2010/04/ernst_van_dyk_wins_record_9th.html|archive-date=12 January 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Jean Driscoll]] won eight times (seven consecutively) and holds the women's world record at 1:34:22.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=Rory A.|last2=Boninger|first2=Michael L.|last3=Rice|first3=Ian|author4=Sean D. Shimada|author5=Rosemarie Cooper|editor=Walter R. Frontera|editor2=David M. Slovik|editor3=David Michael Dawson|title=Exercise in rehabilitation medicine|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VE8UJZrp6NIC&pg=PA333|year=1996|publisher=Human Kinetics|isbn=0-7360-5541-X|page=333|chapter=Elite athletes with impairments|access-date=13 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629143058/https://books.google.com/books?id=VE8UJZrp6NIC&pg=PA333|archive-date=29 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[New York City Marathon]] banned wheelchair entrants in 1977, citing safety concerns, but then voluntarily allowed Bob Hall to compete after the state Division of Human Rights ordered the marathon to show cause.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oXFkAAAAIBAJ&pg=1025,3843410|title=Wheelchair entrants axed from marathon|date=17 October 1977|work=Calgary Herald|access-date=20 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222230848/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oXFkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=330NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1025,3843410|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=71xNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4637,5757021|title=Marathon entry on wheels|last=Association Press|date=22 October 1977|work=Lakeland Ledger|access-date=20 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222171603/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=71xNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0voDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4637,5757021|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The Division ruled in 1979 that the New York City Marathon and [[New York Road Runners]] club had to allow wheelchair athletes to compete, and confirmed this at appeal in 1980,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FmAtAAAAIBAJ&pg=4776,7425548|title=Wheelchair athletes win marathon appeal|date=26 October 1980|work=Tri City Herald|access-date=20 May 2011}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but the [[New York Supreme Court]] ruled in 1981 that a ban on wheelchair racers was not discriminatory as the marathon was historically a foot race.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/11/sports/marathon-wins-wheelchair-ban.html|title=Marathon Wins Wheelchair Ban|last=United Press International|date=11 April 1981|work=The New York Times|access-date=20 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114093757/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/11/sports/marathon-wins-wheelchair-ban.html|archive-date=14 November 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> However, by 1986, 14 wheelchair athletes were competing,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/11/sports/scouting-fast-forward-in-reverse.html|title=Fast Forward in Reverse|date=11 November 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114093805/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/11/sports/scouting-fast-forward-in-reverse.html|archive-date=14 November 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> and an official wheelchair division was added to the marathon in 2000.<ref name=equipment>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/sports/new-york-city-marathon-new-equipment-stirs-division-within-wheelchair-ranks.html|title=New York City Marathon; New Equipment Stirs Division Within Wheelchair Ranks|last=Dicker|first=Ron|date=5 November 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=20 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114093759/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/sports/new-york-city-marathon-new-equipment-stirs-division-within-wheelchair-ranks.html|archive-date=14 November 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some of the quickest people to complete a wheel-chair marathon include Thomas Geierpichler (Austria), who won gold in the men's T52-class marathon (no lower limb function) in 1 hr 49 min 7 sec in Beijing, China, on 17 September 2008; and, [[Heinz Frei]] (Switzerland) who won the men's T54 marathon (for racers with spinal cord injuries) in a time of 1 hr 20 min and 14 sec in Oita, Japan, 31 October 1999.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guinness World Records Limited|last=Glenday|first=Craig|publisher=Jane Boatfield|year=2013|isbn=978-1-908843-15-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/247 247]|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/247}}</ref>