‘It’s hard to put it in words’: Dave McGillivray on what it means to have completed 50 Boston Marathons

"I've been blessed with being able to do a lot of this for charity, give back to a lot of different causes, and that's what I hope my legacy is someday."

Dave McGillivray, race director of the Boston Marathon, completing his 50th marathon. Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

April 19, 2022

One of the final celebratory moments on Marathon Monday belonged to the event’s race director, Dave McGillivray.

Boston Marathon race director: ‘I’m going to run this race every year for the rest of my life’

Long after the thousands of other runners in the 126th edition of the marathon had gotten underway from Hopkinton, McGillivray began his own 26.2-mile trek toward Boylston Street.

It’s part of McGillivray’s tradition: He takes care of his job as race director, and then makes time for the marathon to keep a promise he made to himself years ago.

In 1973, after McGillivray finished his first complete Boston Marathon — having not finished his first attempt in 1972, running as a “bandit” — he swore that he would “run this race every year for the rest of my life.“

And, though he’s served in the role of either technical or race director since 1988, McGillivray has kept up with his promise. It means that of his 50 marathons, 34 have come at night.

So with a crowd there to greet him, McGillivray reached the finish line on Monday evening.

“It’s hard to put it in words,” he said afterward. “Fifty years have gone by so fast, but I’ve been blessed with being able to do a lot of this for charity, give back to a lot of different causes and that’s what I hope my legacy is someday. Just being able to help those in need.”