Andrea Hatch

A request to join her son in a two-generation road race put Andrea Hatch of Castine on a running path that has led her, more than one-quarter century later, to the distinction of being the female with the most official Boston Marathon finishes. At the time of her induction into the Maine Running Hall of Fame, Hatch had run Boston 31 consecutive times, from 1978-2008. Her husband, Harold, was elected to the Maine Running Hall of Fame in 2006 – making the Hatches a rare husband-and-wife “team” enshrined.

Andrea Hatch says she never participated in athletics when she was in school. She started running in 1976 when her oldest son, Jim, wanted one of his parents to run with him in an 11-mile road race that had a “two-generation” prize in Concord, Mass. Hatch remembers working up to the 11-mile distance over a few weeks time, discovering during the process that she “had some natural endurance.”

That summer, as seasonal residents of Castine, she and Harold and their three children participated in the Runner’s World fun runs in Bucksport and Hampden, in the masters’ mile in the alumni meet at the University of Maine, and in every local road race they could find. That summer Andrea became the first female member of Central Maine Striders. She continued running regularly that fall in Massachusetts and began training with a group dedicated to the marathon.

In April 1977 she ran the Boston Marathon unofficially, finishing her first in 4:09. After that experience, she decided she wanted to qualify for the 1978 Boston Marathon and ran five marathons in pursuit of the 3:30 qualifying time. The first was a more-than-four-hour-effort at the Paul Bunyan Marathon in Orono, Maine, in July in 90-degree-plus heat. The second was the New York City Marathon in October in 3:36, and the third was another “hot” marathon in Miami in December in the 3:40s. She submitted her 3:36 time to Boston’s officials, but not expecting it to be accepted, ran the Lowell Marathon in March 1978. Her Lowell time was just over 3:30, but shortly in the mail came her acceptance into Boston based on the New York City Marathon time. She ran her first official Boston Marathon that year in 3:43 and has run every Boston since – with a best time of 3:16:01 in 1983 – to set the record.

Andrea has lost track of the total number of marathons run, but thinks it is over 80. For three years in a row (1978-1980) she won the open division of the Cape Cod Marathon, with times of 3:16, 3:11 and 3:09 respectively. In 1984 she won the master’s division of the Cleveland Revco Marathon in 3:09. In 1990, she won the master’s division of the San Diego Marathon in a little over 3:30. In 1997, in an ice storm and wearing a trash bag, she was first senior in the Houston Marathon in a time of 3:42.

As a member of Liberty Athletic Club in Massachusetts, Hatch competed in track (she tried distances from 200 meters to 10K), cross-country, and road races, but feels she has had her greatest success in long distance racing. Her personal best for 10K was 39:23, recorded in one of the Boston Bonne Bells. In 1983 Hatch won her division of the national masters 5K RRCA Cross Country Championships in New York City’s famed Van Cortlandt Park. Her best half-marathon was 88:40, in New Bedford, Mass., where she was the first sub-master. In 1999, she and her daughter, Sarah, won the mother/daughter award in the Avon Global 10-K Championship in Central Park, New York City.

Over her running career Hatch has competed in numerous regional and national track and cross-country championships and in the World Veterans Championships in Turku, Finland (track and cross-country) and Buffalo, New York (cross country and marathon). She attributes her successes and continued interest in running to having had “many wonderful training partners” and “the opportunities to compete in many different kinds of events” and, of course, the support of her family.

After retiring from her position as assistant director of the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT in 2005, Andrea and Harold retired to Castine, where she competes regularly in local road races. The Hatches spend the winter in Colorado Springs where their children Mark and Sarah live, as do four of their five grandchildren.