Neil Cusack, the only Irish winner of the Boston Marathon, reflects on his victory

In the history of the Boston Marathon, there has only been one Irish winner.

This happened in 1974 and came from a runner who was originally recruited to the East Tennessee State cross country team as an afterthought.

Neil Cusack, from the Irish city of Limerick, emerged from a record field of more than 1,900 runners to win with the third fastest time in the Boston Marathon (2:13:39).

Half a century later, Cusack will return to Boston as the official starter for the 2024 edition.

In a recent phone call from his home in Ireland, made from the kitchen while, as he noted, his wife was baking bread, the 72-year-old recalled with crystal clarity the events of that day capital 50 years earlier.

“It seems like yesterday, to be quite honest,” Cusack said.

Before the race, he was considered a notable runner, but he was not necessarily expected to participate.

Cusack had spent four years at East Tennessee, having initially been perceived as – in his own words from 1974 – “the weak side of the deal.” Yet despite being a relative recruiting afterthought (coaches were more interested in compatriots EJ and Eddie Leddy), Cusack still received a “half scholarship.”

He quickly proved to be an asset for East Tennessee, becoming an NCAA champion (and earning a full scholarship). Boston Globe columnist Jerry Nason, highlighting Cusack’s entry in the 1974 marathon, described him as a “wild running Irishman.”

Still, Cusack faced stiff competition, including 1973 runner-up Tom Fleming. The two men stayed in close proximity to each other before the race, so much so that Cusack had heard his rival speaking beforehand.

“Tom Fleming was staying in the hallway,” Cusack said.

“I happened to hear Tom in the room with a lot of other guys, saying he thought he was going to win tomorrow,” Cusack recalled of Fleming, a two-time New York City marathon champion (who died in 2017). ).

“I thought, ‘Yeah, I think there’s someone who could make this wish not come true,'” he said, referring to his self-confidence.

Even though he had never run the Boston Marathon before, Cusack was confident.

“To be completely honest, you don’t win races like this unless you think you’re going to win,” he said.

Despite his lack of local experience, Cusack noted that he had a vague idea of ​​a race plan.

“It worked perfectly,” he added.

“My plan for going to Boston was to sit for six miles and listen to the birds singing, you know what I mean?” Cusack called back. He later jokingly summed up his bird-listening approach to Nason, saying simply, “I played it by ear.”

“I just stayed 100 yards off the pace,” Cusack continued. “I said at six miles I would go to the leaders and make a move, and that’s exactly what I did.”

After taking the lead near Natick, Cusack (in the words of Boston Globe journalist Jack Craig) “literally never looked back.”

“I was a minute ahead at Wellesley, which is halfway,” he said. The only challenge would be being able to maintain your pace on the famous hilly part of the race in Newton.

The other potential problem took shape in the form of the powerful Fleming, who began to act in the final stage of the race. Having no experience running Heartbreak Hill, Cusack could have fallen into the same trap as so many other runners unaccustomed to the unusual elevation changes of the Boston Marathon.

But even though Fleming reduced Cusack’s lead in the hills, the Irishman did not crack. Unbeknownst to Fleming and other Boston veterans, Cusack had plenty of running experience.

“I was always strong in mountain running because at East Tennessee we trained on the hills every day, me and Eddie Leddy,” Cusack said. “We used to push ourselves hard, so hills weren’t a problem for me.

“Once I got over Heartbreak Hill and did the last few miles, I felt pretty good,” he added. “When I turned around and saw Boylston Street, it was like manna from heaven.”

By then Fleming had lost his pace, having pushed himself to the brink trying to close the gap on the hills. Unlike Cusack, who ran (in Craig’s words) with “clockwise regularity” until the end, Fleming stopped completely to drink a cup of water near Coolidge Corner, his hands on his knees. His chance of catching up with the Irishman faded into the distance.

To mark his Irish heritage, Cusack decided the day before the race to add a custom design to his outfit.

“I sewed an Irish crest onto an old vest on one of those string vest types,” he said. Having no experience in Boston, he was unaware of the large Irish population.

“I didn’t know there were about 80,000 Irish in Boston,” Cusack joked. “So of course, I remember afterwards they asked me, ‘What are you going to do now?’ I said, ‘I’ll have a few beers.’ I received $10 and $20 bills in the mail over the next three weeks from people saying, “Take a free beer, we’re proud of you!” “It was incredible.”

After the victory (and a few celebratory drinks), the true magnitude of the feat began to dawn on Cusack. Returning to Tennessee with “the big trophy wrapped in the newspaper in the middle of my bag,” his presence was announced over the intercom on both flights home as “the winner of yesterday’s Boston Marathon.”

And since 1974, Cusack said his victory in Boston has become the thing people identify him with most. Even for someone who has competed in several Olympic Games and won other marathons (notably the 1981 Dublin edition), it is Boston that comes back most.

Recalling an anecdote from 2023 where he met two Americans in Ireland, Cusack joked about how he always surprises people.

“These two guys were at the bar wearing Boston Marathon t-shirts. So I came up and said, “Hey guys, I like your t-shirts. Have you run the Boston Marathon?

“They said they did it and they were talking,” Cusack said. “I told them I would do it several times, and they looked at me and said, ‘How’s it going?’ I said, “Actually, I won it.” »