‘The most fun I’ve had at Boston.’ The weather delivered, and so did the crowds. Relive the excitement of the 2025 Boston Marathon.

▪ See our favorite photos from the race.

▪ Sharon Lokedi set a course record in the women’s race, besting Buzunesh Deba’s mark set in 2014 by more than two minutes. Check out our interactive to see how the elite and wheelchair races went down.

▪ Des Linden’s professional apex came in the Boston Marathon. It’s only fitting she ended her career here on Monday, writes Chad Finn.

▪ Jeffrey Brinkel passed his love of running onto his sons. Then he got diagnosed with ALS. On Monday, his family gave him ‘Heaven on Earth’ — a rolling ride through the Boston Marathon.

▪ As he labored through the Boston Marathon’s rolling terrain with his legs cramping and energy dwindling Monday, Kristian Jamieson kept repeating one question to himself: “Why, Kristian, are you doing this?” The answer: to follow in the footsteps of his great great grandfather, Tom Longboat. He was the first Indigenous champion at the Boston Marathon, with a mark of two hours, 24 minutes, and 24 seconds in 1907. Read Jamieson’s story here.

▪ 19-year-old Delmace Mayo, an aspiring pro racer, made his Boston Marathon debut. It was worth the wait. Read more here.

▪ What’s harder: Running a marathon or calling a Celtics game? Drew Carter is one of the only guys who can answer that.

▪ Meet the top American finishers: Jess McClain ended her rookie Boston run atop a stacked field of her countrywomen. And Conner Mantz got a personal best and a fourth-place finish, but the top men’s finisher wanted more.

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By Spencer Buell

It was not a picture-perfect race for 20-year-old Villanova student Matt Nawn, of Pennsylvania, who collapsed with just a few feet remaining on Boylston.

But he persisted, crawling on his hands and knees with considerable effort to cross the finish line without help.

“You don’t quit. You keep going. That’s how I’ve always been in life,” Nawn told the Globe later in the day.

He chalked his collapse up to dehydration, and is back in good health. He said he is thankful for the hearty cheers he got from the finish line bleachers, although he was hardly processing them in the moment.

“Thank you to the entire city of Boston,” he said. “For everyone else who’s watched the video, don’t give up. Just because something bad happened doesn’t mean it’s an opportunity to give up. Keep pushing forward. Keep chasing it.”

Celtics play-by-play voice Drew Carter had no idea how the race would go for him. He admits the decision to make Boston his first marathon was probably stupid, but in the end, all of his training paid off.

“I feel really satisfied, really proud, really grateful, emotional, like I’m gonna cry, which is weird,” Carter said. “But mostly I feel really gassed.”

Read more from Aiden Barker.

By Cam Kerry

Jeffrey Birkel vividly recalls the best day of his life. Running across the Grand Canyon, a 27-mile trek mired with breathtaking views and steep terrain.

Move over, red rocks. There’s a new favorite memory: running the Boston Marathon with his sons, Michael and Matt.

Jeffrey, a native of Peoria, Ill., was diagnosed with ALS a year and a half ago. Doctors gave him an 80 percent chance of not surviving eight months.

Sporting a black and blue jacket from when he completed Boston in 2005, Jeffrey, pushed by Michael, finished in four hours, three minutes, and 38 seconds on Monday. As Matt raced alongside, Jeffrey sported a microphone, which connected to a speaker to effectively communicate with his boys.

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Column | By Chad Finn

Des Linden grew up in Southern California, in the town of Chula Vista, and graduated from Arizona State. Nowadays, her home base is Michigan.

So, no, she is not from Boston. It just seems like she is, in so many ways.

Linden, 41, has run 24 marathons in a decorated career that includes two Olympics and a rain-drenched but cathartic victory in Boston her sixth time running the marathon, in 2018.

Half, or 12, of her marathons have been Boston, including her first in 2007 and what she says will be her last on Monday. It’s a perfectly practical decision, ending her marathon career where it began and blossomed.

In what read as a full-page thank you note to the city and the race in Monday’s Globe, Linden announced that she was retiring from competitive marathoning. She plans to compete in trail running and ultra-marathons, but this phase of her career is complete.

Linden, who finished second by just two seconds in 2011 and whose resilience finally paying off seven years later, left the sentimental feelings on the printed page on Monday.

There was not much time for nostalgia when there was one more race to run.

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Where did you finish? Check out our database of Boston Marathon results.

Aiden Barker

On the 50th anniversary of the first official wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon, Troy Hoyt ran in honor of his family.

His grandfather, Dick, pushed his uncle, Rick, in a wheelchair through the course for 32 consecutive Boston Marathons, becoming a symbol of inspiration for many others.

“Being able to run on the 50th anniversary of Bob Hall opening the door for wheelchair athletes and seeing what my grandfather and uncle did on top of that, it’s so amazing,” said Troy. “I was just thinking about that the whole way and seeing myself on the banner coming down the final stretch with my dad was just so surreal. It gave me the confidence that I needed to finish.”

Hoyt represented Team Hoyt along with 24 other runners, helping to raise over $252,000 that will be given back through Dick, Judy and Rick Hoyt Grants, helping those with disabilities to learn to swim, surf, and ski, among other activities.

“As a family, we’re so proud that Dick’s grandson got to carry on that honor,” said Troy’s father Russ.

“Dick and Rick did 32, and I’m at five,” said Troy Hoyt. “Maybe I can pass 32, but hopefully No. 6 next year.”

By Matty Wasserman

For 1,600 finishers on Monday, the Boston Marathon marked the final step in completing each of the six official world major marathons: Boston, Berlin, Chicago, London, New York City, Tokyo.

Those runners were directed to a separate tent after crossing the finish line, where they were awarded a special six-piece medal commemorating each of the majors.

For Ruth Davies, 69, of Great Britain, her goal of completing each major has fueled her running journey over the past three years.

Davies’ ran her first-ever marathon in London in 2022, and it only took her three years to complete the full circuit. Those six marathons — once at each major destination — are the only six marathons she has ever run.

“Ever since I heard of the majors, which was in October 2021, this had been the goal for me,” Davies said.

By Christopher Huffaker

Dylan Bourgeois, 42, and Julian Bourgeois, 16, of Ridgeville, Ontario, cheered on Dylan’s wife, Andrea Demery, an emergency room nurse running her fourth marathon. They carried a poster made by Andrea’s colleagues, who were watching live from the ER.

They also purchased bright yellow sweatshirts made to make sure Demere could recognize them, not realizing the police would be wearing the same color. But they stood by the message: “Momma didn’t raise no quitters.”

“We don’t quit,” Bourgeois said. “It’s something we’ve always said when things get tough.”

By Chris Huffaker and Ken Mahan

While official numbers won’t be available until later, Boston Marathon spokeswoman Lorna Campbell said she had not received any alerts about unusual medical issues at this year’s race.

Temperatures along the course, from Hopkinton to Boston, stayed in the low 60s to low 50s, respectively — a 10 degree difference, at least, from last year’s race, when there were a number of heat-related illnesses reported. Light winds also provided a boost for runners, not just cooling them down but providing a slight tailwind.

Most years at the Boston Marathon, thousands of runners are treated at medical tents lining the course or near the finish line. Volunteers stand ready to catch woozy runners before they hit the ground, massage a cramp, or provide a wheelchair to those who limp across the line.

Unpredictable Boston weather can make matters worse, with runners who trained through the winter getting hammered by an unseasonably hot and humid spring day.

In 2024, nearly 1 in 10 runners received medical treatment, and more than 100 were hospitalized.

Even without the heat, the marathon takes its challengers to their limits and beyond, but 2025 seems to have been relatively mild, according to a Boston Athletic Association spokeswoman.

“There’s nothing major to this point,” Lorna Campbell said. “Hopefully it stays that way.”

The temperate weather played a role, she said.

“It seems for runners it’s been pretty optimal conditions,” she said.

Monday brought a sea breeze of about 5 to 10 miles per hour in Boston that kept temperatures about 5 to 8 degrees cooler in Brookline and near the finish line compared to the rest of the interior marathon route. The easterly flow of the breeze often leads to a headwind down Boylston Street to close out the race, but today’s was hardly impactful for runners.

By Emma Healy

Runners love to celebrate broken records. But broken medals? Not so much.

Jillian Manfredi, 27, of Chicago, was preparing to leave a post-race party — where she celebrated a 3:01:38 finish in her first Boston Marathon — when she stood up abruptly, and the medal she wore proudly around her neck got caught on the table in front of her and snapped.

“I guess the force of me standing snapped the medal piece [on the back] clean off,” she said. “I didn’t realize how upset I would be when it happened.”

In the moment, Manfredi said, she was in disbelief.

She and one of the organizers of her race team, Fleet Feet Chicago, returned to the finish line area, and Manfredi ventured back into the chute to retrieve a new medal.

“Of course this would happen to me,” Manfredi said. “How many people does this happen to? I’m just fortunate enough to be with the Fleet Feet Chicago team, and they were able to get me in here and help me get a new one.

“I’m just super happy that I was able to get in here and get a new, fresh medal,” Manfredi said.

By Christopher Huffaker

Chicago’s Maryhelen Harper, 40, has run more than two dozen marathons, and even won one in Washington a few years ago. But in recent years she’s added the twist — of running as a banana.

She started in 2021, when, due to COVID-19, the Boston and Chicago marathons were the same weekend and she ran them both.

“It takes the pressure off about performance,” she said of her unorthodox costume.

This year, she kept the hood up for the whole race, which got the spectators going even more.

“This year was the most fun I’ve had at Boston,” she said. “The crowd support is amazing.”

She had 3 or 4 little beers along the way, which “helps with pain management” after training for hilly Boston in flat Chicago.

“I ran a very fast first half,” she said. “The second half was hard but a lot of fun.”

By Emma Healy

Former WBZ reporter and Olympic figure skater Alice Cook set out from Hopkinton Monday morning with a lofty goal: complete her second Boston Marathon — and third overall — since being diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in December 2023.

But at Mile 5, Cook’s knee buckled, and she began to become dehydrated. She was taken to a hospital in Framingham, where they gave her fluids.

She returned to the end of course a few hours later and began her run again just a few blocks from the finish line, which she crossed with her hands up in the air in triumph.

“It’s a win,” said Mary O’Connor, a friend speaking for Cook, who lost her voice to the disease. “To go five miles, it’s a win for ALS and for Alice. We don’t care if she didn’t do 26 miles. The mere fact that she has hope — and look at her! — it’s giving her life.”

By Ken Mahan

Temperatures at the finish line on Boylston Street in Boston only made it to the low 50s Monday, while farther inland, mainly west of Newton, highs crawled into the low 60s briefly this afternoon for near-perfect running weather.

Most of the field ran and finished the race before the thermometer even reached 60 degrees. It’s a far cry from last year’s hot Marathon, when temperatures soared well into the 70s, causing heat-related illnesses among many runners.

Monday started cool, with temperatures along the first few miles of the race at or slightly above 40 degrees in the morning. Sunny skies allowed for the asphalt to warm up, and the temps jumped to the mid-50s by noon and then gradually climbed to 60 degrees.

Afternoon clouds filtered through the region from the west during near-peak heating for the day, limiting the highest readings to the mid-60s for just a brief moment; Natick reached 64 and Wellesley, 65. Once the clouds moved fully into the picture, temperatures quickly slipped back into the 50s by 4 p.m.

By Mitch Fink

Jörg Beinlich, of Berlin, celebrated at the finish line with a Bavarian-themed outfit, including a foam pint of beer attached to his baseball cap.

“I think many people in America like beer,” said Beinlich, 59. “Beer, Munich, Oktoberfest. So it’s full circle.”

Beinlich only lamented that he was unable to complete his outfit with lederhosen.

By Amin Touri

Leave it to Conner Mantz to be a little disappointed by the best performance by an American man in more than a decade.

The 28-year-old Utah native is defined by high standards, which pushed him to become the best marathoner in the country. Mantz solidified that title with a sensational run at Monday’s Boston Marathon, finishing fourth in 2:05:08, the second-fastest performance ever by an American man on any course.

While Mantz was pleased in some ways, he found it bittersweet to be so close to bigger goals — he missed the podium by four seconds in a sprint finish and came within 10 seconds of Ryan Hall’s American-best mark in Boston in 2011.

“It is a little tough to take,” Mantz said. “You always have a goal to win, but the goal was to prove that I could be in a position to win, and that was being on the podium. Missing it and getting outkicked the last 300 meters is a little bitter, but it was still probably the best race I’ve had, so I’m really happy about that.”

READ MORE

By Rumsha Siddiqui

For four-time British Olympian Paula Radcliffe, Boston was her last stop.

At 51, Radcliffe has secured the Six Star Medal, completing all six world marathon majors: Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York City, and finally, Boston.

A three-time winner of the London and New York City Marathons, Radcliffe finished the race in 2 hours, 53 minutes, and 44 seconds, placing her 158th out of 12,441 women. She also held the women’s marathon world record for 16 years from 2003 to 2019 with a time of 2:15:25. On Monday, she wore bib No. 215, honoring her record.

The last time Radcliffe raced in Boston was 33 years ago when she took the junior title at the 1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

“To finish here, it’s got a nice symmetry to it,” Radcliffe said.

READ MORE

By Matty Wasserman

Sung Soo Kim runs a touring company in South Korea, and he was responsible for booking the travel and hotel arrangements for 60 Koreans who flew in this week to run the Boston Marathon.

Kim and others in the tour group made sure their home country was represented well at the finish line, waving their flags high and congratulating each Korean runner as they finished.

“There’s a lot of really great runners in South Korea, so we don’t have a hard time finding people who are interested in coming,” Kim said. “We love representing the country here.”

By Emma Healy

Lexi Watts has run a dozen marathons and documented them all on her social media accounts for her hundreds of thousands of followers, but something felt special about Monday’s Boston Marathon.

It was her fourth time racing in Boston, but this around, she was joined by two of her close friends and fellow running influencers, Lizzie Ramey and Isabelle Jensen. The trio finished in 3:36:09 — a personal course best for Watts.

“Just to be with them and experience it through their eyes for the first time was really cool,” Watts said. “Just to have so many people on the course with the good weather — we’re so blessed.”

Known for wearing colorful matching outfits, the trio opted Monday for white shorts and light blue tops, the latter a nod to the Boston Marathon’s iconic colors.

The crowd was “literally insane,” said Jensen.

“I get the chills just thinking about it,” Watts said. “I cried like 10 times.”

After 26.2 miles, they even had a little bit left in the tank for some of their signature dance moves.

By Christopher Huffaker

For many runners, the ultimate accomplishment isn’t just one marathon, but six. A special medal goes to finishers of all six Abbott World Marathon Majors: Boston, plus Chicago, New York, London, Berlin, and Tokyo. It’s an achievement regular people can share with elites like Paula Radcliffe, the longtime world record holder who finished her six stars by completing Boston Monday.

So did Natalia Bonilla, 34 of Costa Rica, who qualified for Boston in Chicago in 2023. Today was her 9th marathon over all.

“I didn’t do my best time, but I did a good time,” she said. “This one’s really hard … everyone tells you but you’re never ready.”

Bonilla said she runs to show her kids, 6 and 9, that they can do anything.

“To be in a sport gives you discipline,” she said.

And she will continue to need it, as the six stars are set to expand to seven this summer, with the addition of the Sydney Marathon. Bonilla is already planning to check it off her list.

By Claire Thornton

Lisa Burgess, 56, completed her 13th marathon and seventh Boston Marathon shortly after 3 p.m., with a time of 4:07:49. This year she raised nearly $16,000 for Jeff’s Place, a Framingham non-profit that supported Burgess and her four children after her husband, Eric Burgess, died by suicide in 2016.

“It’s such a resource for me, I want to give back every chance I can,” Burgess told the Globe.

Her son Ben finished 251st overall with a time of 2:31:13, according to Boston Athletic Association data.

By Adelaide Parker

NEWTON — Jill Redda watched Monday’s marathon alongside her inflatable T-Rex, Chad.

When Redda ran the Chicago Marathon a few years ago, she almost gave up at the 23-mile mark. Then, she saw someone dressed in an inflatable dinosaur suit.

“It helped me get that last push,” Redda says, chuckling. “So, for the last two or three years, Chad has been frequenting New York City races.”

Redda brought Chad to Boston — his first race outside of New York City — to cheer on two friends from her Brooklyn running club, Bridge Runners. She saw them back at the 10-mile mark, then brought Chad to Heartbreak Hill to help them through what many runners feel is the hardest part of the race.

“It’s a big deal,” she says.

By Sarah Mesdjian

WELLESLEY — For four graduates of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., the marathon provided a good excuse to host a “friends reunion.”

Boasting silly signs and big smiles, friends Emmalee McComb, Katie Magner, Courtney Daly, and Molly Kelley “met in the middle” to watch runners just past the course’s halfway point in Wellesley.

All originally from Massachusetts, the four women met while studying nursing in Connecticut.

Now, Magner and Daly live in Marlborough, Kelley lives in Newburyport, and McComb flew out from Austin, Texas, for the reunion weekend.

For them, the marathon was an event to be inspired by and to “get out to enjoy the beautiful day,” Magner said.

“Honestly I’m surprised I’m not crying right now,” she said. “Normally when I watch on TV, I bawl my eyes out. It’s so emotional.”

But today, the friends were out to enjoy the race energy “further out of the fray of Boston,” Magner said.

By Christopher Huffaker

Last year, Megan Brown, 33, of Dallas, Texas, ran Boston while pregnant. This time, she collected her 5-month-old son Knox just past the finish line.

“He just qualified twice,” she quipped.

“I ran faster postpartum, but it felt better pregnant.”

Brown, a physiotherapist, ran all through her pregnancy, including four miles the day Knox was born.

“Everyone thought I was crazy,” she said.

Soon, Knox will be old enough for her to run with him in a stroller.

“I hope he’s a little runner,” she said.

Brown has run nine marathons and plans to complete the six World Marathon Majors, she said.

By Matty Wasserman

As runners funnel through the finish line zone in Back Bay, there are plenty of food and drink items available for them.

Stations are stocked with water bottles, Gatorade, protein bars, and bread rolls, among other products.

But, arguably the most popular item of all? Bananas.

Lory Peri is in her third year as a volunteer at the marathon and has been stationed for hours handing out bananas with a smile. She said the BAA estimates they will go through 40,000 bananas on the day.

“The runners need their potassium, and we’re there to serve it up,” Peri said.

By Spencer Buell

This Easter Monday race was always going to be a meaningful one for Father John Predmore, chaplain for Ignatian Ministries at Boston College High School, who before running the marathon this year raised more than $24,000 for the charity Boston Health Care for the Homeless.

Then, in the hours before race day, came the news that Pope Francis, a fellow Jesuit, died overnight.

Predmore was easy to spot as he made his way to Boston. He left the starting line wearing a notecard with his name on it pinned to his shirt. Next to it was one reading “Pope Francis” and “A grateful heart.”

“I will run as a pilgrim of hope,” for the pope, he wrote in a Facebook post before the race. “Grateful for your life.”

Predmore, 63, planned to spend the race offering blessings to spectators along the race route who requested them. Surely among them would be Catholics mourning the loss of the pontiff. This much crowd interaction as both participant and priest makes his time on the course a bit slower than it might be otherwise, he acknowledged.

“I don’t think I’m going to break any records,” he said in a statement before the race, “but I do want to raise awareness for unhoused people through concrete action.”

Father Jim Croghan, superior of the Jesuit Community at BC High, said the Marathon is Predmore’s “way of putting into action what Pope Francis was calling the church to do, paying attention to the marginalized, the overlooked, and those on the peripheries,” he said.

Still, he said, it was a day of joy for Catholics in spite of the sad news.

“I think Pope Francis would be the first one to say, ‘Forget about me. Go on with the celebration,’” Croghan said. “This is just a fantastic day for Boston.”

By Adelaide Parker

“Pickle juice! Get some pickle juice!”

Just before mile 21, these shouts rang across the course as Adam Davis and members of Team Hoyt New England handed out cups of lime-green pickle brine to runners.

Davis’s table was stacked with cups, a dozen family-size pickle jars, and a glass water cooler. The cooler looked like something you might find at a spa filled with cucumber water. But instead of regular cucumbers, Davis’s cooler contained floating pickles.

“It’s great for the cramps,” says Davis.

By Nathan Metcalf

NATICK — Keri MacDonald stood with her two kids, Jaxon, 10, and Zoe, 12, holding a sign for her husband: “Finished cancer and 26.2. We love you, Dave MacDonald.”

Keri MacDonald’s husband, David Macdonald, lost his mom to cancer when he was 2 years old, and the disease claimed his coworker, Christina Longchamp, early last year.

The sign Jaxon held read “Christina’s Crew” beneath “Go Dad! Run Fast!”

Dave ran his second Boston Marathon on Monday with Dana-Farber in honor of both his family and his friend.

“We’re just proud of him,” said Keri MacDonald. “He does a lot for other people, and he went through a lot not having his mom growing up. This is his way to try to fund research so that it doesn’t happen to others.”

Keri MacDonald said the family used to watch much closer to the finish line, but hasn’t since 2013 — when she was in Brookline with 3-week-old Zoe on the day of the marathon bombing.

“I can’t go that far in anymore,” said Keri MacDonald , glancing at her two little ones.

Their youngest, Jaxon, had just one thing to say after hugging his sweaty dad mid-race: “I feel proud of him.”

By Adelaide Parker

The Cambridge Running Club cheered on today’s marathoners near the top of Heartbreak Hill. This 300-member running club, based in Cambridge, has 30-40 members competing in today’s race, according to the club’s president Andrew Callahan.

“We come out here every year on Heartbreak Hill because we know that this is the worst part of the race for a lot of people,” says Callahan. “It can be really challenging, and just bringing the energy can be what they need.”

In the Cambridge Running Club’s tent, tables are piled with chocolate chip cookies and Dunkin’ coffee. Some members waved cowbells and homemade signs, while others relaxed on folding lawn chairs.

“We usually just bring out a lot of food and coffee,” says Callahan. “We camp out here for like eight hours.”

In Copley Square Andrew Parrow, 28, held at his side a jumbo-sized photo of his younger brother Maxwell’s head, taped to a wooden stick.

It’s a family tradition to hold up this massive image when his brother runs big races, Parrow said, even if it makes for a strange sight along the race route.

“He gets embarrassed but when he’s got the last few miles, it’s tough. And he sees this and he keeps going,” Parrow said. “You gotta run towards it or run away. Every time, he runs toward it.” — Spencer Buell

By Spencer Buell

Being close to the grand finale of the Boston Marathon, and the thousands of spectators massed along the Boylston Street barricades, is one thing.

Actually seeing the stars of the show is another.

As the men’s elite and then women’s elite runners sprinted past on the final stretch, a dense crowd a dozen deep at the intersection of Ring Road strained to peer over the tops of the heads of spectators who’d gotten to the sidelines before then on Monday morning. One man climbed partway up a traffic pole holding a smartphone up in the air to capture the moment.

“Anybody have a booster seat in their car?” 30-year-old Xavier Greaves, of New York, asked while pointing at his friend who stood a few inches shorter than him laughing.

The view was a bit better on the shoulders of Kevin Fuller, from Orlando, Florida. That’s where his niece, Lanie Metz, 6, found herself as the first elite runners came past.

Fuller, 48, had done a Boston sports triple-header this week, catching both a Red Sox and a Celtics game.

“I got a free shirt!” he said, pointing to the Celtics T he was wearing proudly. At the Marathon, he assumed his uncle duties.

Metz had come from Buffalo, New York, to watch her mom, Martha, run her second Boston Marathon, and was holding a metal cowbell in her teeth. When a reporter asked if she was proud of her mom, she nodded. She also nodded when asked if she aspired to be a long-distance runner herself.

But she’s not satisfied with a race that’s just 26.2 miles long.

How many miles does she want to run someday?

 “Ten hundred!” she said.

Also sitting comfortably on a pair of shoulders was Targhee, a three-and-a-half-month-old rescue puppy, held there by owner Jason Michas, who lives in the South End. Targhee had been a big hit so far, said Michas, 34.

“This makes the petting stop,” he said, as a reporter scratched the puppy’s ear. “Because people don’t want to come pet me.”

By Maren Halpin

Sven Johnson of Uxbridge is cheering on his wife, Jessica, in Framingham as she takes on her third Boston marathon as part of Team Honda fundraising for Dana-Farber. She was featured on a few of the team’s commercials, he said, which was a special pump-up in the weeks leading up to Marathon Monday.

His sign, referencing an episode of the TV show “The Office” when Michael Scott went on his not-so-successful run after taking the term “carb-loading” a bit too seriously, aimed to put a smile on the face of his wife and fellow marathoners.

“It’s a bit of an example of what not to do,” he laughed as he prepared to head for Wellesley and Heartbreak Hill to support his wife with numerous other witty signs (Jessica had just the right amount of pasta last night, he said.)

“I always love seeing her running,” said Johnson. “She said her legs were a bit tired, it’s hot, but she’s making it happen.”

By Ken Mahan

After a mostly sunny start to race day, clouds will start rolling into Southern New England and over the 26.2-mile marathon route this afternoon. The mostly sunny skies will turn partly to mostly cloudy by the time the final wave of runners approaches the finish line later today.

The building clouds will be a saving grace for many runners by helping moderate temperatures as they steadily increase into the low 60s. Naturally, cloud cover limits the amount of heat that reaches the surface, keeping the asphalt cooler and runners a bit more comfortable. The risk for overheating and other heat-related illnesses drops, allowing runners to keep more in the tank – maintaining energy levels and potentially finishing faster, according to medical experts.

But even 60 degrees is too hot for long-distance runners. Dr. Matthew Salzler, chief of sports medicine at Tufts Medical Center, said “the ‘Did Not Finish,’ or DNF rate, becomes a lot higher if the temperature reaches 60 degrees.” By 1:30 p.m., temps had risen to 62 in Wellesley and 60 in Newton as thousands of other runners hit the pavement. Boston was holding steady at 50 degrees. Ideal running conditions are temperatures in the 40s and 50s, which the region hit in the morning as the elite races got underway.

By Sarah Mesdjian

With one arm outstretched, tissue in hand, and another holding up a sign, Aiden Capone-Sprague asked runners, “Need a tissue?”

The 13-year-old from South Portland, Maine, and his mom came to watch the marathon and give runners a halfway-point pick-me-up in Wellesley.

“My mama is a runner, and one thing she always forgets is tissues,” Capone-Sprague said. “We did this at the New York Marathon, so we thought we should do it again and it’s been a big hit.”

Capone-Sprague’s mother, Kim, ran the Maine Coast Half-Marathon in May of last year and plans to run the New York City Marathon this November.

“I told myself I’d never run another half-marathon and here we are,” she said with a laugh. “After going to the New York Marathon and being here, I would love to [run] it,” Aiden Capone-Sprague, who plays ultimate frisbee on a team in Portland, Maine, said.

“The energy is crazy… the runners are so impressive, and I’m just happy to lend a helping hand.”

By Christopher Huffaker

Margaret Malek, 64 of Winchester, took the marathon as another opportunity to protest the Trump administration after attending two other protests this month.

“This one is for due process,” she said. “You can’t have law without due process.”

There was a group of protesters gathering around mile 17, Malek said. But she wanted to be near the finish line because it was her first time at the marathon since the bombing in 2013 when she had been by the library.

“I didn’t see it but I was here,” Malek said. “I heard it.”

Malek had been scared to come back but said she felt very safe Monday.

By Matty Wasserman

Since Delmace Mayo was 15 years old, his mind was set on one day completing the Boston Marathon.

Mayo, 19, a Jamaica Plain resident, is one of the country’s most decorated youth para athletes. Last year, his 18th birthday fell just two days shy of the Boston Marathon — meaning he would need to wait another year to become eligible.

When the day finally arrived on Monday, Mayo’s talents were on full display in front of the hometown crowd.

Competing in the men’s championship wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon, Mayo crossed the line in 2:04:30, finishing 21st in the 26-racer field.

READ MORE

By Nathan Metcalf

On the side of Route 135 in Natick, nestled among folding chairs and cheering onlookers, Dennis Porter, 66, stands in the bed of a rented U-Haul, belting out classics through a mic hooked up to booming speakers. For him, Marathon Monday isn’t complete without a song — and he’s been singing for the crowds here for more than 30 years.

In between cheering and shouting for the passing runners, spectators clap, dance, and sing along to “Go, Johnny Go!,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Sweet Caroline,” and other classics as Porter sings and dances in the rented truck bed.

“I think I only missed one year, and that was because the rain would’ve ruined my equipment,” said Porter, clad in a shimmering silver lamé button-up beneath a black leather vest that reads “The Vaudevillian” across the back.

Porter isn’t a full-time performer. When the show clothes come off, he’s a fleet manager for the waste management service Triumvirate Environmental in Somerville. His love for singing was discovered a few years into his now almost 40-year marriage, when his wife, Nancy Kelley, prodded him into trying karaoke at a restaurant in Framingham.

“I laughed so hard,” said Kelly. “Then I was like, ‘Oh my God, he can actually sing.’”

From then on, he was the emcee of recitals at her local dance studio, the Nancy Kelley Dance Studio; the voice of local parades; and a mainstay at Natick car shows. Eventually, a restaurant owner asked if he’d perform during the Boston Marathon, and he hasn’t stopped since.

This year nearly fell through. After a December car accident, the couple was left without a truck. A vehicle they planned to buy fell through at the last minute, and a rental reservation was denied the night before the race. But Porter managed to snag a U-Haul Monday morning — just in time for the race.

“I would’ve done it at ground level if I had to,” he said. “The runners wouldn’t know where the music was coming from, but the show must go on.”

Over the years, Porter has also become something of a collector.

“Some of the runners from out of the country — like China or something — they’ll give me a postcard or a flag,” he said. “The next year, they will bring me something from their country.” His home is now filled with pins, paper notes, and small souvenirs — mementos of the thousands who’ve passed by his sidewalk stage.

It’s not just about the runners, though. The couple’s 28-year-old daughter who has Down syndrome, joins them every year and loves dancing with her mother to her father’s singing.

“She didn’t sleep last night — it was all ‘Marathon, marathon, marathon,’” Kelley said.

Porter got his nickname — The Vaudevillian — after a performance at a senior center.

 “This gentleman came up to me, and he said, after the show was over, ‘You’re an old-time vaudevillian,’” Porter recalled. “He told me I was in the wrong business. He loved my act, and the name just kind of stuck.”

As for why he keeps showing up year after year?

“I mean, it just gives them a little energy,” he said. “A lot of them will run by, they give me thumbs up … you’ll see that they’ll dance down the street a little bit. It just feels good.”

Kelley put it simply: “Music and dance are the best things you can do in life. It always puts a smile on your face.”

By Emily Spatz

Lucy Wesemann, Emily Liu, and Halle Frey, all immunology students at Harvard University, were cheering on Wesemann’s dad, Duane Wesemann, from Brookline. They were wearing banana costumes left over from Halloween.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle,” Lucy Wasemann said.

Duane Wesemann is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard. The girls made a fitting sign with a drawing that showed how immunotherapy kills cancer cells and wrote “You’re killing it” underneath.

By Sarah Mesdjian

WELLESLEY — Two dogs, Lola and Annie, sat on the sidewalk amongst a lively crowd on Central Street in Wellesley. The pair of golden retrievers basked in the sunlight alongside their dog sitters, married couple Meghan and Steven Brown from Charlestown.

As the dogs sat, swishing their tails, they garnered almost as much love and attention as the runners from children and adults alike.

“Oh, they hate attention,” Steven Brown, 33, said jokingly when a man stopped to ask if he could pet the “fluffer.”

The Browns said they are attending the race as “fans of running” but hope to run the race themselves in the near future.

“We qualified, but not by enough,” Meghan Brown, 34, said. The most recent marathon she competed in was London, but both she and her husband have raced all over the world.

“It’s a good way to see new cities,” Steven Brown said.

By Christopher Huffaker

Catherine Dallat, 39, of Belfast, is here supporting her partner David Kelly, who’s running his first Boston Marathon.

The race is his third Marathon Major after London and Berlin. She brought the Irish flag so David Belfast could spot her and know he was nearly finished.

The flag is also a good conversation starter.

“A lot of Americans are proud about going to Ireland and want to talk about where they’ve been,” Dallat said. “There’s a lot of Irish and Northern Irish runners and it’s nice for them to see it.”

Catherine Dallat enjoyed Boston and the marathon, particularly how many pre-race events there were in the city over the weekend.

“Every major is quite different,” she said. “We’ve found this one quite well organized … Boston’s quite a nice city.”

Andrea Mossman, 45, of Hopkinton, said her friend group jokes that Kaitlyn Mullen is “only running the marathon for the attention,” Mossman said. Her sign pokes fun at the running joke, signaling that she, too, enjoys being in the spotlight. — Claire Thornton

By Claire Thornton

Kristin Reyes, 26, and Daniel Irwin, 29, moved to Hopkinton this year. They’re enjoying “taking it all in,” Irwin said.

“We’re here for the good vibes, supporting them,” said Reyes, adding that the couple checked out the finish line and a Red Sox game on Sunday.

By Sarah Mesdjian

Chris Forbes, 32, of Manchester, N.H., is one of 80 volunteers working at Hydration Station 13 near Wellesley Square.

Forbes and about 40 other members of his running club, the Greater Derry Track Club, based in New Hampshire, woke up early and made the drive down to Wellesley to help out with the race. Sporting rainbow, reflective sunglasses and a ball cap from his running club, Forbes was all smiles Monday morning.

“It’s my first time,” Forbes said. “The energy is really something.”

While he wishes he was racing today, he said he’s just happy to be here.

“I’m not close. … I’m about an hour off from qualifying but someday,” he said with a laugh.

Just last week, Forbes ran a marathon in Jersey City, and in November he ran the Philadelphia Marathon.

“Boston, it’s close to home, it’s special,” he said.

By Emily Spatz

Jack Carlisle, Eli Volpe, and Sebby Volpe cheered on wheelchair racers as they came through Brookline.

“It’s cool to see how hard they work to do this, especially the wheelchair people,” Eli said.

All three made signs cheering on Zdeno Chara, the former Bruins captain who took on endurance running after retiring from the NHL. Carlisle and Eli Volpe, who attend school in Dedham, said they, too, are hockey players.

Unfortunately for the trio, Chara never began his race.

By Ken Mahan

Because the slightest changes in weather are so critical to marathon athletes’ health on race day, a team of meteorology students from UMass Lowell is helping provide real-time weather data from along the race course to BAA, marathon medical staff, and emergency officials.

The team, under the direction of UMass Lowell atmospheric sciences Professor Frank Colby, started setting up weather stations this morning at 10 locations along the race route. Each 6-foot-tall ClimaVue research sensor measures changes in temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation. The latest data is sent immediately to the BAA every 30 minutes.

Marathon staff use the data plus information from the National Weather Service to help the medical and emergency staff better prepare for staffing needs at medical tents along the route, know when increased supplies are needed in concentrated areas, and better anticipate ambulance needs if it gets hotter and/or more humid – or if an intense rain suddenly appears.

By the time the elite men’s wheelchair reached Wellesley Center at 9:45 a.m., the temperature hit 51.6 degrees with a light southerly wind of 2 mph, according to data from the UMass team.

The UMass Lowell team has been collecting and distributing real-time weather information for the Boston Marathon since 2012.

By Chris Huffaker

Brittany Washington, 37, and James Nelson, 35, both of Memphis, Tenn., are here to support their friend Maddy Haddock, a “huge Taylor Swift fan” running her fourth Boston Marathon.

Washington and Haddock, who work together as veterinarians, went to the Eras Tour together, and Washington’s mom made t-shirts picturing Haddock’s own “eras,” including as a marathon runner at the center.

“She absolutely loved it,” Washington said of the t-shirts.

Haddock’s favorite Taylor song? Too high stakes to hazard a guess.

“She’ll get mad at me if I say the wrong one,” Washington said.

By Chris Huffaker

Maureen Sanditore, 54 of the South End, has cheered at about 40 Boston Marathons, nearly every year since she first saw the marathon in 1983 after moving to Boston from Costa Rica.

“I was only 13 years old and it meant the world to me,” Sanditore said. “The crowd, the force, the positive energy, the love…”

Patriots Day is one of two days a year, along with July 4, Sanditore always takes off from her work as an engineering drafter. She brings a chair, arrives by 7 a.m. to get a seat right by the finish line, and typically stays there until 5 or 6 p.m.

“Nothing gives me more pride than being here,” she said. “Nothing that could happen in Boston that could stop me.”

Sanditore said she doesn’t run herself, but she has family members in Costa Rica who do and whose dreams are to run Boston. Cheering runners on is her way to be part of the festivities.

“It’s very important for me to be here to support everyone who runs,” she said. “People who come from all over the world, people who have disabilities, people running for a cause.”

By Emily Spatz

Triona OBrion, 23, traveled from Chicago to cheer on her brother, Michael, from Coolidge Corner in Brookline. Her sign was made with an old window shade and signed by family and friends during the family’s Easter gathering on Sunday.

This is the first marathon Michael OBrion, known affectionately to friends as “OB,” has trained for, his sister said.

“We think it’s worth seeing and cheering him — and everyone — on,” Triona said.

Rob Refsnyder hit a solo homer, Kristian Campbell drove in a pair of runs, and the Red Sox defeated the White Sox, 4-2, in the finale of their four-game series on Monday at Fenway Park.

Why do the Sox play so early on Patriots Day? It’s a tradition that goes back 50 years.

According to the Red Sox, they have played at Fenway Park on Patriots Day every year since 1959, with the team wanting to remain in the heart of the action during the marathon-related merriment taking place less than a mile away.

By Amin Touri

Jess McClain was the top American woman, finishing off an incredible run for seventh place in 2:22:43 — also a personal best of three minutes — while Annie Frisbie, an unexpected contender for the top American spot, was just behind in 2:23:21 for eighth.

“I feel like this is a course that I’ve heard from many people about for years and years and years, and it’s played well toward the end if I stick to my guns and run my own race,” she said.

“It’s hard, it’s hard seeing the pack go a few miles in and exercise restraint. I’m from Phoenix, I knew it was likely going to feel pretty warm in the latter part of the race, and I’ve been training a lot on hills so I figured if I was patient it would pay off. I was in an awesome pack of Americans, we just worked together, soaked the crowds in, just tried to patient and worked our way up.”

By Amin Touri

American Conner Mantz pieced together a sensational run but had to settle for fourth in the men’s elite race, running the second-fastest time by an American man on any course and lowering his personal best by nearly three minutes to finish in 2:05:08.

“It is a little tough to take,” Mantz said. “There was a pack of four of us running alot of the way together, seeing John Korir make the move and missing the opportunity to make the move, and even when I tried, I wasn’t ready to do that with the headwind.

“I thought, once we got to a 1,000 [meters] to go, I had a good chance of beating these people ... I made my hard move and they responded like I wasn’t even making a move. It was a little humbling. A little bit tough to swallow. You always have a goal to win, but the goal was to prove that I could be in a position to win, and that was being on the podium. Missing it and getting outkicked the last 300 meters is a little bitter, but it was still probably the best race I’ve had, I’m really happy about that.”

By Ken Mahan

Sharon Lokedi may have been surprised at her incredible Boston Marathon win, setting a course record of 2:17:22 in the elite women’s division, but sports doctors say ideal running weather like Monday’s often leads to record-breaking performances out on the race course.

“In contrast to last year, which was hot, today may be the perfect day … 45-, 50-degree temperature, a little dry. It sets the conditions for optimal racing,” said Dr. J. Sawalla Guseh, a sports cardiologist with Mass General Brigham, who was working the medical tent at the finish line in Boston.

Guseh pointed to 2018, when Des Linden became the first US woman to win the Boston Marathon since 1985 in miserable conditions.

“It was really cold here and rainy and the female runners had a great day,” Guseh said. “The women seem to be really resilient to the weather, which is always something that’s interesting and needs more study.”

Runners, he said, want “it not too cold but on the cooler side, generally because we know that our muscles work at a certain temperature and when they start to overheat, performance declines.” Heat-related problems set in when it gets even a touch hotter, he added. Temperatures hit the 60-degree mark by 1 p.m. in Wellesley and Newton.

Sharon Lokedi shattered the women’s course record, finishing in 2:17:22. She edged out Hellen Obiri, her countrywoman and a two-time champion.

“Where she passed me last year, I passed her today,” Lokedi said with a laugh after the race. “I love competing with her.”

Obiri called it a “great race,” and said Lokedi seemed stronger toward the end of the race.

“Honestly, it was tough from about 5K out,” Obiri said.

This was Lokedi’s second race in Boston.

“I remember asking Hellen, ‘Where’s Heartbreak Hill again?’”

Lokedi said she was motivated and pushed by the pack, which included Obiri, third-place finisher Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, and fifth-place finisher Amane Beriso of Ethiopia.

“We just tried to work together on the hills and everything,” Lokedi said. “Everyone out there with the cheers and everything helps, and having all of that together, having each other to get through those tough, tough miles at the end.”

Lokedi said she couldn’t be sure Obiri would catch her until very late in the race.

“I couldn’t until the last corner,” Lokedi said. “I just tried to say, ‘Be strong, just keep fighting.’ That last hill, that dip, just thinking ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ That was what was in my head the whole time.”

John Korir won the 2025 Boston Marathon in 2:04:45, his victory coming 13 years after his brother Wesley won here in 2012.

“For me, first I have to thank God for the good health and the win,” Korir began. “For us, two brothers winning Boston, I think we’re happy now.

“Today I dedicated the win to Transcend Talent Academy, as I said at the Friday press conference, I [will] donate money to Transcend Talent Academy, and I think my dream has come true.”

Korir had extra intel from his brother’s successful race, and knew exactly when he’d make his push to get to the front of the pack.

“For me, that was the plan. We plan that with my coach and my brother and everyone in my crew, we said at 20 miles I’d try to make the move, and that’s what I tried and it worked well. It was good and I’m happy. ... That was the plan, if I make the move I make a big gap, so nobody can close. It was good.”

His brother Wesley’s advice came in handy.

“Wesley told me to expect the race to be tough, and to believe in myself. I believe in myself, and I followed his advice, and at the end he told me he’s happy and enjoying that we’re two brothers that won Boston.”

By Claire Thornton

HOPKINTON — Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down A Dream” blasted on loud speakers as police, volunteers and families milled about, an hour before the first athletes were set to cross the start line. Thamyres Resende, of Hopkinton, brought her three young children to see their first Boston Marathon. The family lived in Florida for several years and just moved back to Massachusetts, the stay-at-home mom said. “We wanted to get a glimpse of everything that happens at the start line,” Resende, 38, said. She said her kids are excited to “understand what the Marathon is about.”

“I want to see men and women, see what colors they’re wearing,” said 11-year-old Brandon.

By Ken Mahan

You can plan on mostly to partly sunny skies wherever you are along the race route, with temperatures starting the day in the 40s pre-race (first wave starts shortly after 9 a.m.), aside from a few thin, high clouds before quickly warming into the mid-50s by noon.The average high in Boston for April 21 is 59 degrees, and today we should end up between 55 and 60 as our high this afternoon, with light winds along the race course — pretty good running conditions for the race.

Here’s a town-by-town, weather race-route breakdown.

Several stops on the Green Line will be closed during the Boston Marathon. On Monday, Copley Station will be closed all day. On the B and C branches of the subway line, South Street, Kent Street, and Saint Mary’s Street will be closed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the MBTA.Riders should also note that the MBTA may adjust service or temporarily close other stations near the finish line on Boylston Street.See the transit agency’s Boston Marathon guide, and its current service alerts, for more information.

Conner Mantz pieced together one of the finest performances in American marathoning history, coming fourth with a huge personal best of 2:05:08. Mantz duked it out in the final miles with Kenya’s CyBrian Kotut and Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu, with the Utahn settling for the first position off the podium, just 23 seconds behind the victorious John Korir.

There were personal bests behind Mantz, too: Teammate and training partner Clayton Young couldn’t quite stick with the pace change at Cleveland Circle but still took nearly a minute off his fastest mark, finishing seventh in 2:07:04. Ryan Ford rounded out a trio of American men in the top 10 and shaved three minutes off his personal best with a time of 2:08:00 on the nose.

CJ Albertson was 14th in 2:10:16, and Massachusetts native Colin Bennie was 18th in 2:11:46.

Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi could hardly believe it as she celebrated her first Boston Marathon title, delivered as she held off compatriot Hellen Obiri’s bid for a three-peat in the women’s open race.

“I didn’t even believe it,” Lokedi said. “I kept looking back. I’m always second to her. She’s really good competition.”

Lokedi was incredulous at the finish line after taking down an all-time great — and setting a course record, finishing in 2:17:22 to shave nearly three minutes off the old mark.

“At halfway I saw we ran 68 [minutes], and I was like, ‘oh, Jesus,” Lokedi said with a laugh. “We just kept going, and I hoped I still got it towards the end. You can’t tell when you’re past halfway. We were running fast, I knew that for sure.”

A year after settling for a runner-up finish, Lokedi was second to no one on Boylston Street.

“I feel great. I’m so excited, and, yay!” said Lokedi. “I first want to say congratulations to everyone. It was a tough one out there. I’m just so glad we had each other to fight all the way through. It was great just being with them and fighting and competing together.”

Des Linden got a huge reception as she finished her final Boston Marathon as a pro — both from the crowd and her colleagues.

Linden came home in 2:26:18 and was embraced by fellow Americans Emma Bates, Dakota Popehn, Jess McClain, Annie Frisbie, and more, each of whom gave a playful bow to Linden as she closes out her incredible pro career. The crowd on Boylston chanted “USA!” as she reached the finish line.

The 2018 Boston Marathon champion announced earlier in the day that this Marathon Monday would be her last as a professional competitor.

American Jess McClain finished off an amazing run, reeling in Annie Frisbie and closing out a 2:22:43 performance to finish as the top American and seventh overall.

McClain, who was unsponsored as recently as February 2024 when she came home for an unexpected fourth-place finish at the US Olympic Marathon Trials, lowered her personal best by more than three minutes.

Frisbie finished in 2:23:21. Her previous personal best was 02:26:18.

Frisbie, who turned pro in 2019, ran collegiately at Iowa State. She is sponsored by Puma and placed seventh at the 2021 New York City Marathon — her first career marathon.

A year after settling for a runner-up finish, Sharon Lokedi is a Boston Marathon champion.

Lokedi found a way to take down Hellen Obiri, the two-time defending champion, setting the pace throughout the final miles to stop Obiri’s bid for a third straight title. Lokedi stretched her lead over the final mile, and Obiri’s patented kick never came, as Lokedi pulled off the upset in a course-record time of 2:17:22.

Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Amane Beriso tried to run the kick out of Obiri in pushing the pace through the middle part of the race and may have succeeded, but paid the price themselves, dropping back to finish third and fourth, respectively.

And then there were two. A 4:53 split in the 24th mile seems to have dropped Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw, leaving last year’s top two — Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi — to duel for the title once more. They’re almost certain to top Buzunesh Deba’s course record from 2014, but both after a laurel wreath with less than two miles to go.

The women’s race is down to three, as Amane Beriso appears to have paid the price for pushing the pace. Hellen Obiri continues to stalk Sharon Lokedi and Yalemzerf Yehualaw as the trio comes through 23 miles in 2:01:10, well under course-record pace on an incredibly fast day in Boston. It may not be long now before Obiri unleashes her famous kick as she did in each of her last two victories.

Among the Americans, Emma Bates and Jess McClain are reeling in Annie Frisbie, with the two just 10 seconds behind Frisbie for the top American slot at 35K.

With a sensational move at mile 20 — and holding the bib that fell off the front of his race kit — John Korir took home the men’s elite race at the 129th running of the Boston Marathon, pulling away to take down a world-class field in spectacular fashion with a finishing time of 2:04:45, the second-fastest winning time in the race’s history.

Korir’s triumph comes after he won the 2024 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:02:44, the sixth-fastest marathon mark of all time.

With his victory, the 28-year-old from Kenya followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Wesley Korir, who won the Boston Marathon in 2012 amid temperatures that rose to 85 degrees with a time of 2:12:40.John Korir has pledged his winnings to the Transcend Talent Academy, a Kenyan school that offers an education to aspiring runners.

American Conner Mantz turned in a sensational performance, coming fourth in 2:05:08. Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu outsprinted Kenya’s CyBrian Kotut for second.

Mantz’s time of 2:05:08 is the second-fastest time ever run by an American, just 10 seconds short of Ryan Hall’s 2:04:58 finish in 2011. Neither mark is eligible for the American record, as times from Boston’s net-downhill course are not considered for major records.

The women’s elite pack remains at four, with Amane Beriso, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, and Sharon Lokedi each taking their best shot at two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri. The four came through 20 miles in 1:45:06, their pace slowing considerably to 5:34 in the 20th mile as they negotiate the Newton Hills.

An unlikely American is in the chase pack: Annie Frisbie, who wasn’t among the pre-race favorites to be the top American but leads compatriots Emma Bates and Jess McClain by 32 seconds. Frisbie is part of a group that trails the leaders by around two and a half minutes.

John Korir is running away with it, putting a huge gap on the field as he enters Brookline with a blazing 4:24 split for his 22nd mile. The brother of 2012 Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir, John Korir is three miles away from a dominant Boston Marathon victory — all without the bib he lost at a chaotic start to the men’s elite race.

American Conner Mantz remains among a group of four men trying to reel Korir in, but they have a lot of work to do with a 47-second gap between them and the leader.

Ethiopian running is famous for teamwork at the front of elite races, and Amane Beriso and Yalemzerf Yehualaw are taking turns trying to push the pace and take the sting out of Hellen Obiri’s kick in the women’s race. The three have broken away, with 2024 runner-up Sharon Lokedi chasing, as they put down a 16th mile split of 4:48 as they move through the Newton Hills.

The men’s race has heated up in a big way at mile 20. John Korir and Muktar Edris have ratcheted up the pace down the back side of the penultimate. Korir made a big move as the race entered Cleveland Circle, putting the first real gap on the field on the way past Boston College, as a 20th mile split of 4:41 has broken the race open. Conner Mantz and Evans Chebet are in the chase pack around 20 meters behind the leading Korir — who is missing his bib — but Clayton Young has dropped off the quickening pace.

There are still a dozen men in the mix as the elite race moves through the Newton Hills, with Conner Mantz and Clayton Young continuing to set the pace as the group comes through 30K in 1:28:39. While defending champion Sisay Lemma is out, two-time winner Evans Chebet remains in the mix, as does John Korir (brother of 2012 champion Wesley Korir), who lost his bib in a fall right at the start line. Nobody has made a move as the race approaches Heartbreak Hill.

A big twist in the men’s race: Defending champion Sisay Lemma appears to be out just before mile 17, with the Ethiopian pulling off to the side of the course to stretch something while the lead pack pulled away. Even if Lemma continues, it will be just about impossible for him to get back into contention.

Americans Clayton Young and Conner Mantz, along with Australia’s Patrick Tiernan, are at the front of a pack of around 15 men with nine miles to run.

Plenty wondered if anyone would try to run the kick out of Hellen Obiri, and we have our answer. Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso, the fastest woman in the field by personal best, has broken the race open with a big surge that has splintered the lead pack into a single-file line of five women: Beriso, Obiri, Sharon Lokedi, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, and Irine Cheptai.

After an early pace in the range of 5:15 per mile, back-to-back mile splits of 5:07 (mile 10) and 5:05 (mile 11) were too much for the larger pack to handle. They came through the half-marathon mark in 1:08:46, 38 seconds ahead of course-record pace.

Susannah Scaroni has done it, and she did so in bold fashion. The American is now a two-time women’s wheelchair champion at the Boston Marathon, putting away one of the most impressive fields in the race’s history with a big move in the Newton Hills to claim another moment of glory on Boylston Street.

Scaroni, the 2023 champion, came home in 1:35:20, leading Swiss stars Catherine Debrunner and Manuela Schär by more than two minutes. She becomes the fifth American woman to win multiple wheelchair titles, joining Tatyana McFadden, Cheri Blauwet, Jean Driscoll, and Candace Cable-Brookes.

Scaroni called it “a miracle” as she crossed the finish line with a time more than six minutes faster than her first win in 2023.

“You can call it a miracle. I’m so thankful. To be able to make a gap on a downhill from an amazing group of women and float home with these crowds, it’s really an amazing day for me.”

The pace has relaxed a touch as the elite men reach the halfway point, with a big pack coming through the half-marathon mark in 1:01:50 (around 4:43 per mile), comfortably slower than the 1:00:17 Sisay Lemma blazed the first half in last year. Lemma remains near the front of the pack, which still includes two-time champion Evan Chebet, top American contenders Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, and a number of other contenders.

Marcel Hug won his third straight Boston Marathon title and his eighth overall.

“It feels incredible. I still can’t believe it,” Hug said. “When I cross [the finish on] Boylston Street, it’s so amazing. It’s what you’re training for. Such a amazing vibes out there, so thank you everyone for cheering us, supporting us.”

His win came on the 50th anniversary of wheelchair racing in Boston.

“It’s amazing to win here while celebrating 50 years of wheelchair racing in Boston,” Hug said. “It’s a special day.”

Susannah Scaroni continues to pull away out front in the women’s wheelchair race, with the American leading Catherine Debrunner by 1 minute, 15 seconds at 35K. With less than four miles to go, it’s Scaroni’s race to lose as she chases a second Boston Marathon title.

Marcel Hug’s dominance on Boylston Street continues, as the Swiss racer comes home in 1:21:34 to claim his eighth Boston Marathon title, tied for the second-most in history. Hug couldn’t quite replicate his pace from last year, when he set the course record for the third time, but it was a comfortable win as Hug finished several minutes ahead of Daniel Romanchuk in second.

Hug joins Jean Driscoll, the dominant women’s wheelchair racer of the 1990s, with an eighth laurel wreath. He trails only South Africa’s Ernst van Dyk, who won 10 titles in the division in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Romanchuk finished second behind Hug in a time of 1:25:56.

It’s still a big pack out front in the women’s elite race, but a trio of Americans — Sara Hall, Jess McClain, and Emma Bates — have dropped back from the leaders, with Dakota Popehn and Keira D’Amato even further back. Hellen Obiri and the frontrunners came through 10K in 32:53, with that trio of Americans around 10 seconds off the pace.

While Marcel Hug continues to extend his lead at 20 miles, putting a gap of more than six minutes between himself and Daniel Romanchuk, Susannah Scaroni is also breaking away.

The women’s wheelchair race had been whittled down to three with defending champion Eden Rainbow-Cooper falling off the pace, but Scaroni is making a bold move in pulling away from Manuela Schär and Catherine Debrunner in the Newton Hills. Scaroni came through 30K in 1:05:35, 26 seconds ahead of Debrunner.

Defending champion Sisay Lemma has hit the front as he inches ahead of Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, and the early leaders to come through 10K in 28 minutes, 52 seconds — 16 seconds ahead of course-record pace and around 4:40 per mile. Lemma isn’t breaking away early as he did in 2024, but he’s biding his time at the front of a pack of more than a dozen men.

A big pack of women’s elites come through 5K in 16:48, setting a quick pace of around 5:20 per mile. Two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri is near the front of the pack, which features all of the top American contenders — Keira D’Amato, Sara Hall, Dakota Popehn, Emma Bates, Jess McClain, and more.

By Neena Hagen

About 30,000 runners will descend on Boston on April 21 for the 129th Boston Marathon.

With its vaunted reputation and famously difficult qualifying standards, the race lures competitors from across the globe.

For many, the race is a short hop away — more than 4,000 of the marathon’s runners hail from Massachusetts, according to data from the Boston Athletic Association.

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The first of four waves of runners is off, with some of the fastest qualifiers for today’s Boston Marathon starting their journey from Hopkinton to Boylston Street. Around 30,000 athletes are expected in the field this morning.

The women’s wheelchair race remains wheel-to-wheel, with Catherine Debrunner, Manuela Schär, Susannah Scaroni, and Eden Rainbow-Cooper still single-file at the halfway mark. The three former champions have largely allowed the newcomer — Debrunner — to set the pace thus far as the foursome came through the half-marathon mark in 44:43. Can the Swiss superstar hang on?

The men’s open race is setting a quick early tempo, with Americans Conner Mantz and Clayton Young towing the field through the 5K mark in 14:20, around 4:35 pace per mile. The men out front clocked a 4:32 first mile, seven seconds quicker than Geoffrey Mutai’s opening split when he set the course record of 2:03:02 in 2011.

Marcel Hug hits halfway in 37 minutes, 57 seconds, leading the men’s wheelchair race by 1 minute, 48 seconds over American Daniel Romanchuk. The main question left in the men’s race is whether Hug can take down his own course record, the 1:15:35 mark he set in 2024 despite a nasty spill at the Newton Firehouse turn.

The women’s open race is off, with all eyes on Hellen Obiri as she attempts the division’s first three-peat since 1999.

But the deepest field in the race’s history will be hot on her heels, including a 10 American women with personal bests of 2:25 or fast. Keira D’Amato, Emma Bates, Sara Hall, and Dakota Popehn are just some of the Americans that are expected to be in the mix down the stretch in this one.

The men’s open race is underway, with Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma looking to defend his title after breaking away from the pack last year in a wire-to-wire win.

Keep an eye on two-time winner Evans Chebet of Kenya, plus a couple of Americans — Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, and CJ Albertson — that could mix it up.

Marcel Hug has already broken away in the men’s wheelchair race, putting significant daylight between himself and Daniel Romanchuk at 15K. The seven-time champion and course record-holder upped his pace through Framingham, giving Romanchuk a lot of work to do if he wants to keep Hug from a third consecutive win on Marathon Monday.

The women’s wheelchair race is a group of four at 10K: Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner and Manuela Schär, American Susannah Scaroni, and defending champion Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Great Britain.

The foursome hit the 10K mark in 19:26, with Debrunner setting the pace in the early going.

Scaroni was a bit detached from the initial pack of three in the opening miles, but has put herself on the wheel of Debrunner — the world’s most successful women’s wheelchair racer of recent years — just over six miles in.

Just over six miles in, the men’s wheelchair race has already seen two former champions break away. Seven-time and defending champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland leads, coming through 10K in 16:16, with American Daniel Romanchuk — the 2022 and 2019 champion — right on his wheel.

Hug is seeking an eighth title today, which would move him into a tie with Jean Driscoll for second place on the event’s all-time list of champions.

By Emma Healy

The 129th Boston Marathon got underway just after 9 a.m., with the men’s elite wheelchair field leading the way.

The women’s wheelchair field will set off at 9:09 a.m., followed by the men’s open field at 9:37 a.m. and the women’s open field at 9:47 a.m.

Here are the rest of the start times:

9:50 a.m.: Para athletics divisions

10:00 a.m.: Wave 1

10:25 a.m.: Wave 2

10:50 a.m.: Wave 3

11:15 a.m.: Wave 4

As one Swiss superstar chases his eighth title, another chases her first.

Marcel Hug is once again the man to beat in the men’s wheelchair division, as the “Silver Bullet” looks to join Jean Driscoll as an eight-time champion of the Boston Marathon (South Africa’s Ernst van Dyk has the record with 10 titles). Hug’s win last year was his third time setting the course record, with his time of 1:15:35 putting him more than five minutes clear of the field in a dominant win.

His biggest threat will likely be Daniel Romanchuk, the 2022 and 2019 champion who has had to settle for runner-up finishes to Hug in three of the last four years.

In the women’s wheelchair race, last year’s surprise winner, Great Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper, will look to go back-to-back on Boylston Street. Rainbow-Cooper put daylight between herself and four-time champion Manuela Schär early last year and never looked back, winning by 90 seconds.

Rainbow-Cooper will have a stacked field looking to knock her off the top step of the podium: three Boston Marathon champions in Schär and Americans Tatyana McFadden and Susannah Scaroni, plus a Boston newcomer in Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner.

Debrunner is finally racing in Boston after winning just about everything there is to win in wheelchair racing: six Paralympic gold medals (including the marathon), five world championship golds, and an incredible nine World Marathon Major titles in just four years.

Debrunner has won each of the rest of the World Marathon Majors (excluding the newly-added Sydney) since 2022, winning one title each in Tokyo and New York City, two each in London and Chicago, and three in Berlin.

Debrunner is the best in the world over 26.2 miles. On Monday, she’ll try to prove that she’s the best over a stretch of 26.2 miles unlike anything else on the World Marathon Majors circuit.

The women’s open race comes down to one question: Can anyone beat Hellen Obiri?

The Kenyan has been nearly unstoppable since transitioning from the track to the roads, as the two-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist over 5,000 meters has won three World Marathon Majors in two years, including two Boston titles.

On back-to-back Patriots Days, no woman has been able to hang with Obiri’s kick, honed over a decade of dominance on the track, in the final stages.

Can anyone run the kick out of her, pushing the pace hard enough to keep the race from coming down to a sprint? Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso (2:14:58 personal best), the runner-up in 2023, and Yalemzerf Yehualaw (2:16:52) will try, as will the rest of a remarkably deep field that features 11 women with personal bests faster than 2:22:00.

That field also includes Americans Keira D’Amato (2:19:12, previously the American record), Sara Hall (2:20:32), and last year’s top American Emma Bates (2:22:10), the three of whom lead a group of 10 women who have run under 2:25:00.

They could all very well be in the mix in the final stages, as the women’s elite races have skewed a bit slower and more tactical in recent years. If that trend holds, however, and Obiri is at her best, it’s hard to see anyone outkicking the reigning queen of Boylston Street.

By Amin Touri

If Evans Chebet wants his crown back, he’s going to have to go through Sisay Lemma to get it.

Kenya’s Chebet fell short of a three-peat in the men’s elite race at last year’s Boston Marathon, when Ethiopia’s Lemma blazed the first half of the race in just over an hour to claim a dominant wire-to-wire win.

Lemma is back in Boston and will be the man to beat on Monday, and there will be plenty of men dreaming of beating him: the field features 15 men with personal bests of 2 hours, 8 minutes or faster.

That includes Chebet (PR of 2:03:00), Kenya’s John Korir (2:02:44) — the brother of 2012 champion Wesley Korir — and CyBian Kotut (2:03:22), as well as Ethiopia’s Haymanot Alew (2:03:31).

There’s an impressive cohort of American men to keep an eye on, including Utahn Conner Mantz, perhaps the strongest American contender for a laurel wreath in the men’s open race since Meb Keflezighi’s famous win in 2014.

Mantz broke Ryan Hall’s American record in the half marathon in January with a 59:17 finish in Houston before bettering the mark by two seconds in New York City last month. Mantz won the US Olympic Marathon Trials last February and finished eighth at the Paris Olympics. He was sixth at the 2023 Chicago Marathon with a 2:07:47 performance, the fifth-fastest time ever for an American man.

Mantz’s training partner, Clayton Young, is often hot on Mantz’s heels, finishing within seconds of his teammate in Chicago in 2023 and at both the Olympic Marathon Trials and the Olympics in 2024. It’s hard to count either of the BYU grads out as they continue to climb the ranks of elite marathoning.

A familiar face you might see near the front: American CJ Albertson, who famously led the first 20 miles of the race in 2021 and was the top American last year.

By John Powers

Last year, Hellen Obiri came here to defend her crown and lock in a place on Kenya’s team for the Paris Olympics, where she won the bronze medal.

She’ll be chasing a bit of history at Monday’s 129th Boston Marathon, bidding to become only the third woman in the modern era, and first from her country, to claim three consecutive titles.

“I’ll be the first one to do it, and I want to make it happen,” said the 35-year-old Obiri, who’d join Germany’s Uta Pippig (1994-96) and Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba (1997-99) as the only three-peaters. “I’m ready, I’m well-focused. So I want to fight up to the end.”

Sisay Lemma, who halted Kenya’s four-year streak last April with his runaway triumph, will be going after a distinction of his own. No Ethiopian men’s champion ever has repeated.

“I’ll be very, very, very happy,” he said. “It will be exciting.”

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By Amin Touri

Very little about Keira D’Amato’s rise to the marathoning elite was conventional.

She was an All-American running for American University from 2002-06, but her professional career never got off the ground. Injuries sidelined her — seemingly for good — by 2009.

D’Amato got her real estate license, had two kids, and settled into life as a “hobby jogger.” The 2013 Boston Marathon attacks inspired her to run her first marathon later that year to try to qualify for Boston. She fell very short, having to walk at stages en route to a time of 3 hours, 49 minutes, 49 seconds, and shelved her running career for a few years.

“I don’t think there’s too many pros in the field that have failed to qualify on their first try‚" D’Amato joked last week.

After signing her husband up for the 2017 Shamrock Marathon as a little gag gift for Christmas, D’Amato, then 32, decided to sign herself up too. She finished in a respectable 3:14.

It was enough to spark a return to serious competition. D’Amato’s rise from there was meteoric.

By 35, she was racing at the US Olympic Marathon Trials. At 37, she ran a stunning 2:19:12 to break the American record. And at 40, she’s leading the most-impressive field of American women in history into next week’s Boston Marathon.

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By Ken Mahan

You can plan on mostly to partly sunny skies wherever you are along the race route, with temperatures starting the day in the 40s pre-race (the first wave starts shortly after 9 a.m.), aside from a few thin, high clouds before quickly warming into the mid-50s by noon.

The average high in Boston for April 21 is 59 degrees, and today we should end up between 55 and 60 as our high this afternoon, with light winds along the race course — pretty good running conditions for the race.

Here’s a town-by-town weather breakdown.

By Max Schwartzberg

With 30,000 participants flooding the course in a streak of vibrant colors, keeping track of your friend, family member or favorite Olympian won’t be so simple.

Here are the best ways to track competitors over the 26.2-mile stretch.

The BAA racing app will be your go-to tracker. You can find an athlete by entering a name, bib number, city, or team. Once you find your runner, hit the plus sign to save their profile and keep tabs on them during the race.

The app includes a live course map, real-time leaderboards, social media connectivity, runner selfies, and updated results. In addition, you will find a tally of how much money each athlete has raised for charity, along with a direct donation link. There is also a spectator guide and a portal to buy official gear.

The BAA racing app is available for free download on the App Store and Google Play.

Once the race kicks off on Monday, the official BAA website will switch over to a live tracking format, offering an alternative to the app. You can access it here.

By Emma Healy

Ch. 5 in Boston (WCVB) is covering the race for the third year, while ESPN will handle the national broadcast.

Ch. 5’s coverage began and 4 a.m. and will continue all day.

National coverage of the elite races will begin on ESPN2 at 9 a.m. and run until 12:30 p.m. The race will also simulcast on ESPN+ from 4 a.m. until 8 p.m.

ESPN host and “SportsCenter” anchor Hannah Storm and running commentator John Anderson will join the crew of announcers and analysts from WCVB on the race call from Boston.

Anderson will call the race from the finish-line bridge, and he will be joined by analysts including 2014 champion Meb Keflezighi, former professional American distance runner and Olympian Carrie Tollefson, and Amanda McGrory, Paralympic medalist and Boston Marathon wheelchair division podium finisher.

Storm will be covering the race with WCVB anchors Ed Harding and Maria Stephanos.

WCVB sports anchor Duke Castiglione will be stationed at the finish line.

Matt James, a former contestant on reality TV show “The Bachelor” will join the broadcast from the field. James will run the his second Boston Marathon while capturing live content during the race to give fans a first-person look at the course.

Ch. 5 will offer race coverage streaming on their mobile app, Very Local Boston, which is free and available on smartphones and tablets.

You can also watch on ESPN’s streaming platforms.

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By Emma Healy

Four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers and Bob Hall, the first officially recognized wheelchair athlete to race the Boston Marathon, will be the grand marshals and will guide athletes along the course.

Rodgers won his first Boston title in 1975, beating the second-place finisher by two minutes and posting a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 55 seconds. He smashed the previous American record by 35 seconds, and it was at the time the fifth-fastest marathon ever run. He won again in 1978, 1979, and 1980.

Hall said he didn’t set out to be a pioneer when he entered the 1975 Boston Marathon as the race’s first wheelchair competitor, but his win in 2:58 set the stage for the future of the wheelchair field, now in its 50th year. Hall won again in 1977, shaving nearly 20 minutes off his time.

Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski served as last year’s grand marshal.

By Amin Touri

After 12 trips on the route from Hopkinton to Boylston, including a legendary 2018 win in monsoon conditions, Des Linden is calling it a day.

As she departed for the start line Monday morning, Linden announced that this Boston Marathon will be her last as a professional, breaking the news in a post styled as a love letter to Boston.

“I made my debut at 26.2 on your roads in 2007 and fell in love — with the distance and with the Boston Marathon,“ Linden wrote. ”Three years later, we were in it together as you lifted me up through the Newton Hills, carried me as l turned Right on Hereford and Left on Boylston, and brought me within two Heartbreaking seconds of victory.

“But you never gave up on me, inviting me to keep showing up; hell, you embraced the fight, because Boston knows grit. The victory in 2018 wasn’t just mine, it was ours.”

Linden’s 2018 win, claimed in swirling winds and driving rain in a race of attrition, made her the first American to win the women’s open race since 1985. It made her a legend in Boston, the pinnacle of a marathon career that featured two trips to the Olympics and more top American finishes than you could count.

“People say you should go out on top, and that’s what I’m doing — because choosing to race my final professional marathon in Boston is indeed going out on top," Linden continued. “I hope you enjoy one last show. Thanks for all the years and all the cheers.”

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By Aiden Barker

Why is the Boston Marathon so hard to get into? Because everyone wants to run it.

The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and one of the most competitive to enter because of its reputation. Rolling hills, an atypical course, and the festive crowds make it an appealing choice for runners from across the globe.

Here’s a look at the times runners had to finish in to apply to participate:

But it’s not just about qualifying anymore.

For the 2025 race, Boston Athletic Association rejected a record number of applicants for the second consecutive year. The BAA received 36,393 applications, and 12,324 qualified applicants were rejected — more than 1,000 more than the 2024 race.

Find out why here.

By Khari A. Thompson

A short walk away from the Ashland commuter rail stop lies Marathon Park, where a blue sign with gold letters and the image of runners captured mid-stride stands to greet visitors.

“Ashland,” the sign reads. “It all started here.”

The Boston Marathon began in 1897, but the starting line didn’t move from Ashland to neighboring Hopkinton until 1924.

“One hundred years ago this April was the last time the race started in Ashland,” said Tim Kilduff, president of the 26.2 Foundation.

The starting line’s current location is a short distance west of where it was when runners took off from Ashland’s Metcalf’s Mill during Boston’s first marathon.

So, why is the line in Hopkinton now? The answer, like the inspiration for the race itself, has Olympic roots.

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By John Powers

Fifty years ago Bill Rodgers, little known beyond his Greater Boston Track Club teammates, took the line in Hopkinton wearing a salvaged singlet and a headband and decided that it was his time to win the Boston Marathon.

“Cool day with a tailwind,” he recalled. “I was a Boston College graduate student. I knew the course, I knew the hills. If that’s on your side you’re going to be hard to beat.”

Rodgers broke away at Wellesley that day, and despite stopping four times for water and once to tie a misbehaving shoelace, he set an American record that shocked himself and everyone else.

“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.”

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.

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By Emma Healy

Among the field of 30,000 athletes competing in Monday’s Boston Marathon are some familiar names, including local sports heroes, internet and TV stars, and Olympians.

Here are some of the notable names to look out for on the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston.

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By Katie McInerney

Good morning. The Globe is at Boston Marathon HQ bright and early on this Marathon Monday. It’s crisp and bright outside, with a temperature of 39 degrees.

The Globe’s Ken Mahan says the weather should reach the low 60s by midday — just perfect running conditions.

They’re also great conditions for a baseball game, and good thing — the Red Sox will play the White Sox at 11:10 a.m. (Ever wonder why the Red Sox play so early on Patriots Day/Marathon Monday? Conor Ryan has you covered.)

Stay tuned for live updates from all along the race course. And follow along with our updates from the field on the Globe’s Instagram, too.

By Emma Healy

When the elite racers approach the start line of the 129th Boston Marathon, four athletes will have a chance to defend their titles — and two will be racing for three-peats.

The champions of all four elite races a year ago will be back in the field for this year’s race, set for Monday, April 21.

Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, who won the women’s open division in 2023 and 2024, will be gunning for her third straight Boston title, a feat only four women have accomplished. The most recent was Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba (1997-99).

Wheelchair athlete and course record-holder Marcel Hug of Switzerland is in the same position and will be racing for his third straight Boston title — and his eighth overall.

Fellow 2024 champions Sisay Lemma (men’s open division) and Eden Rainbow-Cooper (women’s wheelchair division) also have the chance to defend their titles.

An hour after the start of the elite races, the first wave in the field of 30,000 athletes will begin their 26.2-mile pilgrimage from Hopkinton to Copley Square.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Patriots Day, whether you’re a competitor or a spectator.

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By Amin Touri

Reilly Kiernan finished Saturday’s Boston Athletic Association Boston 5K about three minutes slower than she did three years ago. In her defense, she was running for two.

Kiernan crossed the line in 19 minutes, 36 seconds on Saturday, finishing sixth in her age group, all while 35 weeks pregnant.

“I’m definitely pregnant enough to warrant lots of double takes from people as I was lining up for the race,” Kiernan said with a laugh. “A person next to me in the crowd at the start was like, ‘Good luck — to both of you!’

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Ken Mahan | Forecast

After a more seasonal and breezy Easter Sunday with high temperatures reaching the low 60s, all eyes are on Patriots Day, Monday, when thousands will take part in the Boston Marathon and many more will flock along the race route to cheer on the athletes.

Still others will head to Fenway, where the Red Sox play a day game against the White Sox, with first pitch at 11:10 a.m. And so far, the forecast shows Monday looking like a great spring day with mostly sunny skies. The average high in Boston for April 21 is 59 degrees, and it’s looking like we’ll end up somewhere between 55 and 60 Monday afternoon, with a cooler-than-average start to the day — pretty good running temperatures for the race.

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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. John Powers looks back.

▪ 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. Read more from Kevin Paul Dupont.

▪ Tom McCall started running on the dirt track of an Illinois prison. On Monday, he’ll take on Boston. Read about his comeback story from Tara Sullivan.

▪ After a suicide, running helped a Framingham mother and son cope. This will be their first Boston Marathon together. Claire Thornton has the story.

▪ 40,000 bananas, 8 tons of paper cups, and a whole lot of emissions: Go inside the Boston Marathon’s climate footprint with Sabrina Shankman.

▪ Looking for the best race to qualify for the Boston Marathon? Amin Touri crunched the numbers on the competition that may get you that BQ. Prepare your quads.

▪ Fifty years ago, wheelchair racing left the start line at the Boston Marathon. Hear from Bob Hall, the first competitor, and meet the ones he inspired.

▪ In 1961, a dog was blamed for ruining the Boston Marathon. Really. Hayden Bird looks back at the bizarre incident.

▪ How much money do you get if you win the Marathon? If you’re fast enough, it can be a pretty lucrative day.

Emma can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @_EmmaHealy_. Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com. Katie McInerney can be reached at katie.mcinerney@globe.com. Follow her @k8tmac.