Latest news with #BillRodgers
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Welcome to the age of fitness content — where men train for battle without ever experiencing war - ABC Religion & Ethics
Chances are, you or people you know are now in a run club or regularly participate in some form of fitness pursuit. Group exercise — including running clubs, CrossFit classes and new events like Hyrox — has boomed in popularity in recent years. Driven by the constant sharing of exploits on social media, you'd be forgiven for thinking that young people have all enlisted in a kind of self-imposed boot camp, tirelessly preparing for battle. Between morning runs, ice baths and forgoing after-work drinks, young women and men are taking their fitness very seriously. And for many people, that is exactly what's happening. But on closer inspection, there are a number of questionable aspects to this rapidly growing wave of fitness-obsessed social media content. Bill Rodgers running the Boston Marathon on 21 April 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Heinz Kluetmeier /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) In past decades, running — often referred to as 'jogging' at the amateur level — had an almost nerdy appearance. Picture a 1980s runner lining up for the Boston or London Marathon: decked out in skimpy attire for aerodynamic efficiency, all sinew and angles. Running didn't have broad appeal, neither did most forms of exercise. Participants were on the fringe. Completing a marathon was considered a feat of extraordinary athleticism — something unachievable for the vast majority. Fortunately, these elitist perceptions of exercise are vanishing, if they haven't vanished already. Running marathons are now within reach for many people — which means if you really want to impress followers and gain likes, you need to push the envelope. This shift in perception can be credited, in large part, to social media platforms. Thanks to the mechanics of their algorithms, extreme content is pushed to the top of users' feeds. Sharing your five-kilometre run won't get you very far, but running fifty marathons in fifty days? Now we're talking. As a result, young men, in particular, are posting increasingly extreme fitness content across their platforms. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins speaks during the DreamForce Conference in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday, 4 October 2016. (Photograph by David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images) Coinciding with this rise in fitness content is the parallel surge in so-called 'motivational' material. Motivational speakers have existed in different forms in the past. Figures like Tony Robbins used to fill out conference centres in the United States, preaching the pathway to health and prosperity. Now on social media, a distinctly modern phenomenon has emerged — the fitness-motivator hybrid. Much of this content is curiously framed in militaristic terms. Influencers shout into their phone cameras, using warlike similes and metaphors. They urge their followers to 'stay hard', to 'go to battle' in the gym or on the track, and to be 'tough' in the fight against life itself. It's all very gladiatorial. And this bellicose rhetoric captivates many social media users, who feel compelled to hawkishly sign up for the next available half-marathon — which, frequently enough, will have sold out in record time. Fitness vlogger with friends recording a video for an outdoor exercise workout. (Atstock Productions / iStock / Getty Images) But with all this rampant fighting talk being espoused on social media, you might expect armed forces recruitment offices to be snowed under with applications. After all, if someone is so intent on 'going to battle', why not try the real thing? Fortunately, Australia isn't actively engaged in warfighting at present. But there are plenty of conflicts raging globally and any new recruit might not have to wait long for a taste of the action. At the very least, they'd get to train for the real thing. And therein lies the paradox: across much of the Anglosphere, military recruitment numbers are at all-time lows. Which begs the question — What exactly are these young men on social media fighting for? The popularity of male fitness-motivator influencers, like David Goggins, has pushed the 'stay hard' military ethos into the everyday consciousness of many men. Social media has amplified this version of 'fitness' — fitness as self-flagellation — and normalised the battle cries of young men eager to outperform and one-up their friends and followers. This kind of content frames life as a constant struggle, even though the overwhelming majority of those producing it live in some of the world's most affluent countries and face little real need to struggle in order to survive. Man working out with battle ropes in a gym. (Jordi Salas / Moment / Getty Images) Perhaps it is this very reality — that these influencers, and the young men who emulate them, can largely do as they please, eat what and when they like, and choose careers they enjoy — that affords them the luxury of choosing to 'struggle' in artificial ways. Struggle is framed as virtuous, and working hard, in the gym or on the run, is seen as morally righteous. It's the Protestant work ethic meets reality TV culture. In the modern Western world, there is arguably a lack of formal, traditional male rites of passage. Of course, most boys go to school and face a battery of exams and assessments they can pass or fail; they'll likely sit a driving test; perhaps they'll earn their Bronze Medallion. But there are few male-specific cultural thresholds or critical junctures that clearly signify: this boy is now a man. Yet, throughout recorded history, going to war has always been the clearest and most socially sanctioned expression of masculinity — the test in which boys were made into men. In the absence of structured rites, it makes sense that many men today are gravitating toward war-like behaviours. War, or something resembling it, is the only male passage that still holds cultural weight. It appears, however, that boys and men still crave a specifically male formative experience. In lieu of traditional initiations, perhaps they are turning instead to compensatory forms of masculinity — expressed through fitness, extreme discipline and self-control. Sean O'Malley throws a punch against Aljamain Sterling during their Bantamweight title fight at UFC 292 at TD Garden on 19 August 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Paul Rutherford / Getty Images) Parallel to the rise of the fitness-motivator and young men pushing their bodily limits on social media, there has been a marked increase in the popularity of combat sports. Once a niche interest, sports like the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) have been propelled into the mainstream — boosted by social media and cultural commentators like Joe Rogan. The aesthetic appeal of the UFC is unmistakably Roman. Much like the widespread male fascination with the Roman Empire, the rise of the UFC serves as both political and cultural metaphor. The imagery of UFC fighters — overt and bloody aggression, brute strength, domination of one's opponent and total control over self and adversary — reflects a broader male desire for order and control in a world where many men feel they've lost their place. Mirroring this combative stance, technology giants and social media platforms actively promote content that showcases extreme and domineering behaviour. Spectacle is rewarded; reflective, philosophical and introspective content is not. Even the platform owners themselves challenge each other to fights — and then renege on the offer to each other. During his launch of a working prototype of Meta's augmented reality glasses on 25 September 2024, founder Mark Zuckerberg wears a shirt bearing the phrase 'aut Zuck aut nihil' ('all Zuck or all nothing'). This is a play on 'aut Caesar aut nihil', which means 'either a Caesar or nothing'. (Photograph by David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images) Men also look to role models and mentors, and for the many men who've lacked such masculine models in their lives, social media influencers — like the offal-eating Liver King or the extreme endurance athlete and motivation guru David Goggins — may fill a void. They champion an ultra-masculine lifestyle, with 'tenets' to follow and principled acts to engage in, and which promotes suffering as righteous and necessary. They pepper their polemics with calls to action in a man's life and move towards struggle. So, what then, of these armed forces recruitment rates? Arguably the military is the closest thing we have to the Spartan agōgē now. Young males are happy to play warrior on Instagram. To frame their exploits as warlike feats. Could it be that suffering — performative suffering — is appealing, but sacrifice is not? Joining the armed forces means being a part of a group and having to think about others, often before yourself. It can mean boredom, rules, hurry-up-and-wait. There's no posting about a patrol beyond the wire and therefore no dopamine hit from 'likes' that come flooding in. The kind of struggle young men pursue in this social media world is ultra-visible, constantly online, self-directed and narratively polished. It's a shiny participation medal and a race photo. What the algorithm rewards is not discipline in service of something greater — it's the spectacle of completely volitional, self-inflicted struggle. And maybe that's the point. In a world stripped of male-specific rites and communal tests, fitness content gives the illusion of challenge and growth. It mimics initiation. But it's all done solo, online and on your own terms. Pain is simulated. Adversity is curated. Control is never fully ceded. Which is why, for all the shouting, sweating and straining, so few of these men ever do the thing they claim to be doing on their long runs — go to war. Perhaps there needs to be acknowledgement of young men's needs and the dearth of spaces in modern society to cater to them. Rather than men aspiring to go to war with themselves in the cosy safety of Western gyms or streets in lieu of any battle in faraway lands, perhaps we need to concede to the idea that men need a new way to be formally accepted as such by society at large. Being able to buy a beer at age 18 doesn't seem to be cutting it. Maybe the answer isn't to glorify men's warlike struggles, but to acknowledge that they do still require demarcations in their lives, signalling the critical juncture of entering manhood. If society fails to offer this, and in the absence of any form of National Service, men will invent their own rites of passage — and in the age of social media it will be performed online, for the likes and views. Samuel Cornell is a PhD candidate in public health at the University of New South Wales. Prior to his academic studies and career, he briefly served in the Royal Navy.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Switzerland's Marcel Hug claims 8th Boston Marathon wheelchair title in milestone year for event
Four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers and wheelchair athlete pioneer Bob Hall greet race volunteers at the start of the Boston Marathon Monday April 21, 2025. They are the grand marshals of the 129th Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/ Jennifer McDermott) BOSTON (AP) — Marcel Hug of Switzerland blitzed to the front of the field to win his eighth Boston Marathon wheelchair title, claiming the victory Monday in the 129th edition of the race in 1 hour, 21 minutes, 34 seconds. The 39-year-old Hug crossed the finish line in downtown Boston to claim his fifth consecutive win in the race on the 50th anniversary of the first official wheelchair finisher in Boston. Daniel Romanchuk of the United States was second in 1:25:58, followed by Jetze Plat of the Netherlands in 1:30:16. Advertisement Hug and Romanchuk broke from the field and stayed tight for about six miles. But Hug opened about a three-minute lead at the halfway mark and began to widen his advantage. Hug's latest victory came on a clear morning with start temperatures in the low 50s. It made for a much less eventful day for Hug, who last year recovered from a crash in the latter part of the race on his way to victory. ___ AP sports:
Boston Globe
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
The 129th running of the Boston Marathon is here. Follow along with all the action.
The Globe will have live updates and analysis on the elite races, What to know about the 2025 Boston Marathon .cls-1{clip-path:url(#clippath);}.cls-2,.cls-3{fill:none;}.cls-2,.cls-3,.cls-4{stroke-width:0px;}.cls-5{clip-path:url(#clippath-1);}.cls-3{clip-rule:evenodd;} Link copied ▪ Why is the Boston Marathon so hard to get into? Well, in short, because it's so iconic. ▪ What time does the Boston Marathon start? The wheelchair races begin just after 9 a.m., with the men's and women's elite races beginning after 10:30 a.m. Advertisement ▪ Need to keep track of a friend who's running? ▪ Find out ▪ Want to be a Boston Marathon expert (or impress your friends with intel about the day)? Other helpful info: Boston Marathon 2025: live updates Tune in for more beginning at 5:30 a.m. | Your Boston Marathon reading list — 12:00 a.m. .cls-1{clip-path:url(#clippath);}.cls-2,.cls-3{fill:none;}.cls-2,.cls-3,.cls-4{stroke-width:0px;}.cls-5{clip-path:url(#clippath-1);}.cls-3{clip-rule:evenodd;} Link copied By Katie McInerney Get caught up on the Boston Marathon with some of our stories from this month ... ▪ The Boston Marathon was a far different race when Bill Rodgers shocked himself and the racing world by winning in 1975. ▪ Alice Cook knows big challenges. As a US Olympic figure skater, her drive and dedication landed her in the 1976 Games. Nine years later, she became Boston's first full-time female sports reporter on TV. Now faced with her most daunting challenge, Cook has her athlete's eye fixed on running the Boston Marathon. It will be her second time running the race since being diagnosed with ALS. Advertisement ▪ Tom McCall started running on the dirt track of an Illinois prison. On Monday, he'll take on Boston. ▪ After a suicide, running helped a Framingham mother and son cope. This will be their first Boston Marathon together. ▪ 40,000 bananas, 8 tons of paper cups, and a whole lot of emissions: ▪ Looking for the best race to qualify for the Boston Marathon? ▪ Fifty years ago, wheelchair racing left the start line at the Boston Marathon. ▪ In 1961, a dog was blamed for ruining the Boston Marathon. Really. ▪ How much money do you get if you win the Marathon? Emma can be reached at
Boston Globe
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
The Boston Marathon was a far different race when Bill Rodgers shocked himself and the racing world by winning in 1975
'This is absurd,' he marveled after winning by two minutes and posting a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 55 seconds, smashing the mark set by Ron Hill by 35 seconds — at the time the fifth-fastest marathon ever run. 'I can't run that fast.' Advertisement For his labors, Will Rodgers, as the next day's headlines called him, got the customary amateur reward — a laurel wreath, a medal, and a bowl of canned beef stew. If he were to win this coming week's 129th edition, Rodgers would receive $150,000, plus a $50,000 bonus for a course record. Bill Rodgers went out for a run in Boxborough on April 16. He the Boston Marathon 50 years ago, a historic race to helped give rise to the running boom. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff He also would have to beat a dozen world-class Kenyans and Ethiopians, all of them drug-tested in advance, and probably would have to run four minutes faster than he did in 1975. 'The changes have been night and day,' mused the 77-year-old Rodgers, who's serving as this year's grand marshal along with wheelchair icon Bob Hall. There was no prize money when Rodgers won his four crowns, few endorsement opportunities, and a field comprised of runners from North America, Great Britain, the Nordic countries, and Japan. Advertisement But since arriving in force in 1988, two years after Boston finally offered cash prizes for the top performers, runners from East African nations have owned the race, winning all but four titles. Meb Keflezighi, whose emotional 2014 triumph came a year after the Boylston Street bombings, remains the only American men's victor since 1983. When Rodgers prevailed half a century ago, five of the top seven finishers were countrymen. But the domestic running boom, sparked by Frank Shorter's historic victory at the 1972 Olympics, was already underway. 'We all followed Frank,' Rodgers observed. 'That was the golden era.' Boston Marathon winners Bill Rodgers, left, and Liane Winter, right, pose for a photo after winning the marathon in Boston on April 21, 1975. /Boston Globe Archive Now, with seven World Marathon Majors offering six-figure paydays and hefty shoe contracts available, the scene is far more lucrative. The current world record (2:00:35) was unimaginable in 1975. So was the level of doping, with dozens of Kenyan distance runners now serving bans. 'It's a cancer on the sport,' said Rodgers, whose career began when blood doping was just starting. 'World Athletics and Seb Coe have gone after it, but we need leadership to lean on the cheats,' Rodgers said, referring to the sport's governing body and Sebastian Coe, its president. 'The Kenyans are trying but a lot more needs to be done. No one wants to talk about it. I understand, but you should talk about it.' When Rodgers won here the top marathoners were job-holding part-timers who had no reason to dope because there was no upside to it. Rodgers taught special education classes in Everett, training during lunchtime and after school. Advertisement His Boston breakthrough earned him expense-paid invitations to run elsewhere, such as in Enschede in the Netherlands. 'I asked Frank Shorter, what do you do?' Rodgers remembered. 'He said, ask for $1,000. That's what I get. And sure enough, they paid me $1,000.' There were trips to Japan that brought a three-year shoe contract with Asics. 'It wasn't big money but it was something so we could make a living,' Rodgers said. He opened a running center and created a clothing line. His appearance fees increased. Rodgers is the most versatile distance runner in American annals, enshrined in both the national track and field and distance running Halls of Fame. He was a world cross-country medalist and world record-holder at 10 and 25 kilometers. And he was a skilled racer on the track, just missing making the 1976 Olympic team in the 10,000 meters after qualifying for the marathon squad. Runner Bill Rodgers crosses the finish line as the winner of the Boston Marathon on April 17, 1978. Frank O'Brien/Globe Staff But he was always a hardtop man at heart. 'I was a road runner, like the song,' Rodgers said. 'I was made for the marathon. Track to me was more dog-eat-dog. I'm not like that. I'm competitive, but at the starting line I like to shake hands. I like to be friendly.' He was King of the Road in the late '70s, winning five marathons in 1977 and 27 of his 30 outings in 1978. He made the US Olympic team for Montreal, where he led the marathon early before fading in the heat on cramping legs. Rodgers set a course mark in New York, where he won four in a row, and twice made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Track & Field News named him the planet's top marathoner three times. Advertisement Yet Rodgers and his elite colleagues chafed against the restrictions imposed by the sports federations that he calls 'The Great Controllers,' the International Amateur Athletic Federation and The Athletics Congress (the US version). 'We were trying to make a living and push the sport forward and challenge the backwardness and lack of possibility,' he said. After the top runners revolted, conditions began changing in the early '80s. 'The door cracked open,' Rodgers said. 'You could breathe.' Bill Rodgers ran in the 92d Boston Marathon in Boston on April 18, 1988. Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff By then, his career had peaked. The US boycott had kept Rodgers out of the Moscow Games, where he likely would have been favored. Instead, he ran and won Boston that spring for the final time. It was his home race, so Boston Billy kept running it. 'Once I did well I wanted to see if I could defend,' he said. 'Could I do it?' After a decade, he'd proven what he had to in Boston. 'What can I do that's significant anymore?' he wondered. Related : The race organizers still were stuck in the 19th century. 'The BAA was the most resistant in changing and treating us with respect,' said Rodgers, who observed at the time that the association's refusal to pay prize or appearance money had rendered the race 'not first-class anymore.' He bypassed the 1985 race but returned the next year when John Hancock signed on as sponsor and offered $30,000 to the winner, plus bonuses. 'Everything changed when Hancock came on board,' Rodgers said. Runner Bill Rodgers crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston on April 21, 1986. Joe Dennehy/Globe Staff He finished fourth behind Australia's Rob de Castella, whose time of 2:07:51 shattered the course record. 'I wasn't in the same race as Deke,' said Rodgers, who still earned $12,500 for his effort. 'We had two races there.' Advertisement By the time runners from African nations turned up, Rodgers was a 40-year-old masters runner. He ran his last competitive Boston in 1990. He came back in 1996 for the centennial race, again in 1999, and for the final time in 2009 to mark his recovery from prostate cancer. But Rodgers has continued to run the roads frequently — the St. Patrick's Day Race in South Boston, the Bix 7 in Iowa, the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, the Runner's Den Pancake Run in Phoenix, and his own Jingle Bell Run in Somerville. 'I'm having fun doing what I do now, going in and meeting runners,' said Rodgers, still the sport's Everyman. 'They're happy people. How many sports change your life?' John Powers can be reached at
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Grand marshals announced for 2025 Boston Marathon
BOSTON (WPRI) — Four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers and wheelchair athlete pioneer Bob Hall will serve as the grand marshals of the 2025 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association announced. This year's marathon marks the 50th anniversary of Rodgers' first win. The Connecticut native, also known as 'Boston Billy,' went on to win three more races: 1978, 1979 and 1980. Hall is the first officially recognized wheelchair athlete to take part in the Boston Marathon. He was permitted to enter the 1975 race if he could finish in less than three hours. The Belmont, Massachusetts, native finished in 2:58:00, which led to the creation of the wheelchair division. The pair is taking over duties from former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who held the position last year. The 129th Boston Marathon will be on Monday, April 21. NEXT: North Attleboro woman with rare genetic disorder qualifies for 3rd Boston Marathon Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
