April 17, 1911 – Clarence DeMar won his first Boston Marathon race. The victory was run at a record pace of 2:21:39.6. This was DeMar’s first of 7 race victories, a feat unmatched by any other runner in the Beantown Race.
In fact, on April 17, 1922, Clarence won the 26th edition of the Boston Marathon breaking his own race record with a mark of 2:18:10. This victory in Boston was his 2nd race victory and started the streak of 3 consecutive Boston Marathon wins.
According to the official Clarence DeMar Website, DeMar was born in 1888 and grew up impoverished in a little town north of Cincinnati, Ohio. At the age of 10, his father died and shortly thereafter his mother moved the family of seven to Massachusetts, and sent DeMar to a school for orphans in Boston Harbor.
Clarence was said to have run every day of his life. In a Forest Gump sort of way, (perhaps DeMar was an inspiration for the character?) he ran to work, he ran on weekends, and reportedly he ran 110 miles to get to a 10-mile race. What an inspiration of hard work! He was a medal winner at the 1924 games.
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