JACK LEDUC RETIRES FROM PAINTING BOSTON MARATHON START LINE
METROWEST DAILY
HOPKINTON — For the first time in 37 years, Jacques LeDuc will not tie up traffic a few days before the Boston Marathon to paint the famous starting line. At 67, he has decided to retire.
“I checked with my daughters to make sure they didn’t want to continue,” he said. “They kind of expected it.”
The Boston Athletic Association will work to find a “suitable replacement” to paint this year’s line, according to the Hopkinton Marathon Committee. LeDuc, who made the decision on his 67th birthday, told the committee Wednesday night.
“It was a great run, but everything comes to an end, you know,” he said in an interview.
LeDuc said the biggest challenge is the weather and he never likes to block traffic.
“By the time you’re finished with the second half there is already wear and tear on the first half,” LeDuc said.
The tradition started in 1981 in conjunction with the Marathon Committee – without permission from the BAA – after creating a sign honoring local legend Johnny Kelley’s 50th running of Marathon. The group then decided to spice up the start line. Before that, a simple white stripe marked the start.
During the night, someone whitewashed the simple design that proclaimed, “Hopkinton: The Start.”
“The next day someone called me and said, ‘Oh, your line is not there,’” he said. “I went out and saw it and redid it on the Saturday before the race.”
At first, LeDuc came up with his own designs but now the Boston Athletic Association sends a design to match the finish line.
Tim Kilduff, chairman of the Marathon Committee at the time, said the Marathon had no kind of branding back in the 1980s.
“This is a labor of love for him,” Kilduff said. “Jack is not out there getting paid for this work. He has done it freely and he has been very generous with his time.”
LeDuc can’t be replaced, Kilduff said, because of his ability, commitment and passion. The start line has become a landmark year round, no matter how faded the paint becomes.
“It would be impossible to estimate the number of people who have had their picture taken on the starting line,” Kilduff said. “They start when he puts the first stencil in the ground.”
LeDuc once used a custom design for the start line but now the BAA sends along a graphic to match the finish line.
One year it was Hopkinton’s 275th anniversary. Another marked a Kelley running milestone. And when the first race wave was moved from noon to 10 a.m. for the 111th running, LeDuc stamped 110 Roman numeral “12s” across the line and the hands for 10 o’clock on the “a” in “start.” The most stressful year was the 100th anniversary run in 1996 when it snowed the Wednesday before the race, he said.
One of LeDuc’s favorite parts was painting the line with his friends Paul “Buzzy” Buswell and Dr. Charles “Doc” Bobeck, who died in 2010 and 2011, respectively. His daughters, Laura McGee and Jeanne Bloom, also became a large part of the tradition.
“My daughters were really my second and third set of eyes to make sure I didn’t make a mistake,” he said. “That helped me get through the day.”
Dorothy Ferriter-Wallace, chairwoman of the Hopkinton Marathon Committee, called LeDuc and his family icons.
“I have a lot of T-shirts with his starting line design on them,” she said. “The uniqueness of the start is actually what kicks off the Marathon in many ways. He has brought a lot to the start of the race.”
She said the BAA will come up with a plan to get the job done this year. The association uses a 3M adhesive for the finish line, and may do the same.
LeDuc has only kept the stencils for the elaborate portrait of Kelley and a logo commemorating 50 years of women running the Marathon. He will continue to be one of the announcers at the start of the race.