The "Spirit of the Marathon"

Keep an eye out for the new statue,"Spirit of the Marathon,"on the Boston Marathon course this year.

Created by sculptor Mico Kaufman, the statue is located at Mile 1 on land donated by Weston Nurseries, and only hundreds of yards from ‘Lucky Rock,’ the site of the 1946 Boston Marathon starting line. The bronze statue features 1946 Boston Marathon winner Stylianos Kyriakides and Spiridon Louis, the winner of the first Olympic marathon.

In 1946, Kyriakides ran Boston with a heavy heart. He narrowly escaped execution during World War II while the Nazis destroyed his country. Kyriakides was on a mission to win Boston and bring food, medicine and attention to his war-torn homeland.

After not running for 6 years and severely malnourished, Kyriakides beat Boston legend Johnny Kelley in a time of 2:29:27. Kyriakides returned to Greece with food, medicine, clothing and other essentials donated by Americans who read of his victory.

For more, click here.