Salem Street’s Thomas Wylie ran his fifth Boston Marathon on Monday, and while the Boston Athletic Association afforded him some unique bragging rights, Wylie insists to WHAV he’s just a “regular runner.”
Well, a regular runner who—at 75-years-old—has already run eight other marathons across the country and holds a personal record of three hours and two minutes.
On Monday, the BAA certified Wylie as the last male participant to cross the finish line before the official marathon time clock was shut off, marking his time as 6:15:09. Active in several civic groups and community boards including the Conservation and Historic Commissions, Wylie finds humor in the situation.
“I don’t know what to say: It’s like when you go through the car wash and they say your car wash is free because you’re the 500th car,” he said. “Out of 27,000 runners, I’m the last male local runner to cross the finish line when they said ‘That’s it, the clock is off.’ I mean, how would I know?”
Wylie took part in the Marathon as one of six teammates from the New England 65-Plus Runners Club, who chose him out of several hundred runners in his age group.
And while Wylie may not have beat this year’s winner—Lawrence Cherono of Kenya—there was one runner he didn’t have to peek over his shoulder to keep an eye on, he told WHAV.
“What I didn’t know—and it’s certainly an honest and honorable thing to do—is that the six hours don’t start until the last starter passes the start line, so obviously I was 15 minutes and nine seconds ahead of that person,” Wylie joked.
Ethoipia’s Worknesh Degefa took the 2019 women’s division title with a time of 2:23.