New Boston Marathon Jackets Will Expire After 10 Years, B.A.A. Says, Because ‘Come On, You Ran the Thing 10 Years Ago’
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The iconic Boston Marathon “Celebration” jacket is getting a controversial twist, Dumb Runner has learned: Starting this year, each jacket will be engineered to “expire” after about 10 years.
The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), which organizes the Boston Marathon, made the announcement today in a news release.
“In the world of road racing, few items are as recognizable, or as coveted, as the Boston Marathon Celebration jacket,” the statement read. “And we revere this garment just as much as our participants do.”
“In order to maximize that ‘specialness,’ we have decided to build a sort of expiration date into each Celebration jacket, effective immediately,” it went on. “Specifically, each jacket will last 10 years before it becomes unwearable.”
The statement explained that this will be achieved by using “state of the art” fabric designed to degrade over time, so that the jacket will fade and, ultimately, fall apart after a decade or so. The actual time may vary by as much as 18 months, depending on factors such as the number of washings and exposure to rain, sun, and extreme temperatures.
Reached for comment, the B.A.A. said that it realizes the move might upset some runners, but that it felt “a duty to protect the very thing that makes the Celebration jacket so desirable—its rareness.”
”We’ve seen such big numbers of finishers for so long now, it can seem like every third runner you see out there is wearing [a Boston Marathon Celebration jacket],” said Chick Churchill, a B.A.A. spokesman. “And many of them are so old.”
“I mean, yeah, you did Boston,” Churchill said. “But, come in, you ran the thing 10 years ago.”
“Time to let go,” he added.
Asked how he would respond to angry runners whose jackets would become useless after a decade, Churchill had a ready answer.
“Want another Boston Marathon jacket?” he said. “Run another Boston Marathon.”
