Rosie Ruiz rode the subway on the way to a tainted 1980 Boston Marathon women's title, and was later exposed.
Runners in the 2009 Grandma's Marathon on June 20 will have a chance to ride the North Shore Scenic Railroad, but only to the Two Harbors start. They'll have to cover the 26.2 miles to Canal Park on their own.
The train debuts as a race transport vehicle to help fill the void of 91 school district buses no longer available to Grandma's Marathon because of Department of Public Safety rules.
"Licensing regulations no longer allow school district buses to be contracted for private use," said Rudy Lundahl, operations manager for Duluth's Voyageur Bus Co., which has coordinated Grandma's Marathon runner transportation for nearly 30 years.
Marathon officials got that word in January and relied on Voyageur to find replacements for buses previously rented from the Duluth, Superior, Proctor and Two Harbors school districts.
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Lundahl said 185 buses have been hired from Voyageur, LCS Coaches in Cloquet, the Duluth Transit Authority and companies in Minneapolis and Brainerd, Minn. Grandma's Marathon executive director Scott Keenan said he's happy with the arrangements even though transportation expenses will be a little over budget because of the distance some buses are traveling.
