25‑race milestone friends
WCVB reports that Nadine and Lisa are among a small group of runners who have completed 25 consecutive Boston Marathons, and they’ll be running together again this year. (wcvb.com) The piece centers on their long streak as a shared personal accomplishment and part of the marathon’s human‑interest coverage. (wcvb.com)
Nadine Palmer and Lisa Zappala are set to run the 2026 Boston Marathon as they reach 25 consecutive finishes together. (wcvb.com) WCVB identified Palmer and Zappala as two of four runners from the Whirlaway Racing Team in Methuen, Massachusetts, who have battled cancer within the last calendar year. The station said both women use running as part of their healing process. (wcvb.com) This year’s race is the 130th Boston Marathon, and the Boston Athletic Association says it will be held on Monday, April 20, 2026, on Patriots’ Day. The association says about 30,000 participants will race from Hopkinton to Boston. (baa.org) In Boston Marathon culture, 25 straight finishes carry their own label. Boston.com reported in 2025 that runners who finish the race at least 25 consecutive times are eligible to be considered for the Quarter Century Club. (boston.com) Boston.com reported that the club began around 2001 with 16 original members and was created to honor the tradition of returning to Boston year after year. The same report described those runners as “streakers” in marathon circles because one missed year breaks the run. (boston.com) Zappala’s streak had already drawn notice before this year’s race. New Hampshire Public Radio reported on April 20, 2025, that Lisa Zappala of Derry was working to join the Quarter Century Club, which placed her one race short at that point. (nhpr.org) The Boston Athletic Association says the race did not take place in one year in its results archive, a reference to the 2020 cancellation during the coronavirus pandemic. That gap is what makes any active 25-year streak especially rare: it can only span official runnings of the race, not calendar years without interruption. (baa.org) For Palmer and Zappala, the milestone lands inside a more personal year. WCVB’s report frames the 25th straight Boston not as a standalone statistic, but as something the two friends are still able to do together while coming through cancer treatment and recovery. (wcvb.com) When they line up again on April 20, the number attached to their streak will be 25. The larger point in Boston is simpler: they kept showing up, and this year they are still showing up together. (wcvb.com)
