Limerick man Neil Cusack official starter at Boston Marathon 50 years on from famous win

IT WILL be 50 years this Monday, April 15 since Limerick native Neil Cusack became the only Irish runner to win the famed Boston Marathon – posting a winning time of 2:13:39.

Neil and his wife Imelda have been invited back to Boston for this year’s race as Official Race Starter for the 45,000 strong race.

Cusack's 1974 Boston Marathon win marked the first time an Irish runner had accomplished the feat and so far, his name is the only one in a long list of winners with ‘Ireland’ written next to it.

Born in Limerick in 1951, Cusack trained at Limerick Athletics Club and St Munchin’s College before moving to the US on an athletic scholarship at 17 years old.

Just five years later, his photograph was gracing the cover of newspapers across the US, after he raced past 1,704 other competitors to become the 78th winner of the Boston Marathon. At the time, only two runners had completed the race in a faster time.

Most televisions were still black and white at the time, but there was no mistaking the big green shamrock that Cusack reportedly sewed onto his jersey himself.

As well as competing in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games, Cusack went on to represent Ireland in 13 world cross-country championships and win the Dublin Marathon in 1981.

His collegiate running is also well remembered; in 1972 he won both the NCAA cross-country championship and the national cross-country championships, which had only been done by one other runner.