On the ground at the 2024 Boston Marathon

Shaun and Shamus Evans today completed their first Boston Marathon together. The father and earned second place among the duo teams.

“We've been thinking about Boston since Shamus and I started racing together when he was about 6 or 7 years old,” Shaun told GBH's All Things Considered host Arun Rath while on their drive back home to Saratoga County, New York.

“My dad has told me about the run before, but experiencing it firsthand — the crowd, the energy, the view — it was all just really amazing,” Shamus said.

Jennifer Moore GBH News

Their mission is to promote inclusion in the sport of running. So while they awaited the day Shamus would be 18 years old and eligible for the Boston Marathon, the family found some productive ways to bide their time.

“In 2015, Shamus came up with the idea that we should run across the country. We ran from Seattle to New York City, donating running chairs to kids with disabilities so that they could do what Shamus does,” Shaun recalled.

That run took more than a year of planning and training.

“He sold my wife and I on it when he said, 'Dad, can we donate chairs to kids like me so they can feel what it’s like to go fast and feel the wind in their face?' ... We ran 60 consecutive days, 56 miles a day, and donated 35 running chairs along the way.”

Then, two years later, they ran the length of the Mississippi River. The pair has also run the Marine Corps Marathon seven times.

For the past few years, there hasn’t really been such a thing as a normal Boston Marathon. First there were pandemic-related changes. Then there was the somber 10-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing.

This year's race was a refreshing return to normal. And that allowed the athletes to take their rightful place in center stage.

Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma dominated the competition, finishing with the tenth-fastest time in race history.

Kenya’s Hellen Obiri joined the small number of women who have ever won in consecutive years.

Marcel Hug of Switzerland broke his own course record in the men's wheelchair division, which he set just last year.

And Eden Rainbow-Cooper became the first British woman to win the women’s wheelchair division.

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After Merritt Blum collapsed near the end of the course, two nearby runners stepped in to help. Robert King and Ryan Smith carried Blum over the finish line.

Annie Shreffler GBH News

After crossing the finish line together, King and Smith helped Blum into a wheelchair. They all shook hands, hugged, and accepted Blum's thanks.

It was a tight race in the women's professional division with 15 women in the lead pack through mile 20. Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi, both from Kenya, broke away from the rest of the pack at the end of the course.

In the end, defending champion and Olympic silver medalist Obiri claimed another win with a finish time of 2:22:37. She is the first woman with back-to-back wins since 2005.

Charles Krupa AP

Lokedi finished second with a time of 2:22:45.

Coming in third was Edna Kiplagat, also from Kenya, with a time of 2:23:21.

The elite athletes are crossing the finish line!

Sisay Lemma, from Ethiopia, won the men's professional division with a time of 2:06:17.

Lemma recently ran the fourth-fastest marathon in recorded history. While he led the Boston men's division from the start, he couldn't beat the course record of 2:03:02 that Kenyan runner Geoffrey Mutai set in 2011.

Coming in second place was Mohamed Esa, from Ethiopia (2:06:58) and in third place was two-time Boston Marathon winner Evans Chebet, from Kenya (2:07:22).

Illness is nothing new on the course.

In 1935, Boston Marathon legend John Kelley was in the lead when he stopped right in his tracks and vomited in front of the crowd.

A large medical tent sits near the finish line in Copley Square, ready to triage athletes who cross the finish line showing signs of marathon-related illnesses.

Jennifer Moore GBH News

According to the National Weather Service, the temperature has already reached 60 degrees and there's a very slight breeze. Emergency medical staff tell GBH News they expect to see several cases of hyperthermia and dehydration, in part due to the weather conditions.

Eden Rainbow-Cooper, from the United Kingdom, is the first to complete the course in the women's wheelchair division with a time of 1:35:11.

Coming in second was Manuela Schär, from Switzerland (1:36:41) and in third place was Madison de Rozario, from Australia (1:39:20).

The first athlete has crossed the finish line at the 2024 Boston Marathon!

Men's wheelchair division racer Marcel Hug, from Switzerland, completed the course in 1:15:33, according to unofficial results — which would set a new course record. And that's after he crashed into a fence as he made a turn in Newton.

He has now won the Boston Marathon men's wheelchair division seven times.

Steven Senne AP

In second place, Daniel Romanchuk, from the United States, completed the race in 1:20:37.

David Weir, from the United Kingdom, earned third place with a finish time of 1:22:12.

More race results here.

With wheelchair, elite and para athletes already on the course, the first wave of runners has now hit the road.

There will be four waves in total, with the final one departing Hopkinton at 11:15 a.m.

Nearly 30,000 runners are participating in the Boston Marathon this year. That includes citizens of 129 countries, according to the Boston Athletic Association.

We caught up with a handful of runners in Boston Common this morning before they headed to the starting line.

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Phill Sutcliffe is from Litchfield, England, and his partner, who preferred not to give her name, is from Spain. This is Sutcliffe's first in-person Boston Marathon. He participated in a virtual race during the pandemic.

Annie Shreffler / GBH News

Lee Kyongye (left), Kang Hoe Kyung (second left) and Kim Mung Je all came from South Korea to run for the first time in the Boston Marathon.

Annie Shreffler / GBH News

Neyale Mendez is here from Morelia, Mexico, cheering on his partner Manuel Mendez. Boston is the couple’s third stop, after running races in New York and London.

Annie Shreffler / GBH News

Glorimar Samalot shows off her 6-star card marking Boston as the final of the Abbott World Marathon Majors on her list to complete.

Annie Shreffler / GBH News

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This division includes many classifications to establish a level playing field for competitors.

Within the para athletics field are divisions for runners with vision impairments, lower limb impairments, upper limb impairments, and intellectual impairments.

The elite women are now on the course.

Mary Schwalm AP

Here are a few big names competing:

• Hellen Obiri, from Kenya, who placed first at both the Boston Marathon and the TCS New York City Marathon last year. Her personal best is 2:21:10.
• Worknesh Degefa, from Ethiopia, who won the Boston Marathon in 2019. Her personal best is 2:15:51.
• Tadu Teshome, from Ethiopia, who will be making her Boston debut this year. Her personal best is 2:17:36.

The frontrunners are expected to cross the finish line around noon.

Marcel Hug, from Switzerland, appears to be on his way to another medal.

Hug has won the Boston Marathon wheelchair division six times, including last year with a course record of 1:17:06.

Behind him in secnd place is David Weir, trailing by 3:35. And in third place right now is Daniel Romanchuk.

The professional men's division includes some big names:

• Sisay Lemma, from Ethiopia, who recently ran the fourth-fastest marathon in recorded history. His personal best is 2:01:48.
• Evans Chebet, from Kenya, who has won the Boston Marathon men's division two years in a row and is hoping to add a third win this year. His personal best is 2:03:00.
• Gabriel Geay, from Tanzania, who was last year's runner-up in Boston. His personal best is 2:03:00.

The frontrunners are expected to cross the finish line around 11:45 a.m.

Athletes competing in the handcycle and duo divisions are now on the course.

The top wheelchair athletes are about 15K into the race. Currently, Marcel Hug holds the lead in the men's division and Eden Rainbow Cooper holds the lead for the women.

Journalists from around the world have convened in the marathon media center in the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel near the finish line downtown.

Here, reporters and editors can access official data on the race and logistical information needed to do their work.

As the wheelchair races get underway, a giant screen at the front of the room lets journalists track the latest in real time.

The first athletes have left Hopkinton and are on their way down the 26.2-mile course.

Men's wheelchair division athletes took off at 9:02 a.m., followed by the women's wheelchair division athletes at 9:05 a.m.

Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and family members of victims of the Boston Marathon bombing gathered for a pre-race wreath laying ceremony near the finish line.

Esteban Bustillos GBH News

This year's marathon coincides with the 11^th anniversary of the bombing that killed Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lu Lingzi, and injured hundreds of others. MIT police officer Sean Collier was later shot and killed by the bombers, and Boston police officer Dennis Simmonds later died from injuries sustained in a shootout.

It takes 1,400 toilets to support the Boston Marathon.

Jeremy Siegel GBH News

Santo Stramacchia, the Northborough field office manager for United Site Services, is a key figure in making sure these porta-potties make it to the course. We caught up with him a couple weeks ago to learn about the porta-potty plans for Marathon Monday.

While more than half of the total toilets are in Hopkinton, Stramacchia said “the best of the best” — with crisp stickers and no scuffs on the outside — go in a cluster by the finish line, where there are the most cameras.

Runners were up early to board buses bound for the Hopkinton starting line.

Bryon Solberg, who survived an upper spinal cord injury, is getting ready to run his 11th Boston Marathon.

"For me, I'm just so grateful I can move," he said. "After both of my upper spinal cord surgeries, 23 and 24 years ago, I had to relearn to walk. And just to be able to do this, for as long as I can, is really something."

Jeremy Siegel GBH News

Audrey Suttor of Denver, Colorado, is in town for her second Boston Marathon.

“I’m really excited. The city’s awesome. It’s awesome to experience the energy that the city has.”

Temperatures are expected to reach the mid-60s today.

For Boston Marathon spectators, that will be comfortably mild. (One thing to remember: The sun this time of the year is as strong as it would be in the last week of August. This means you can easily get burned standing outside watching the runners go by, and sunscreen is definitely a must.)

But for marathoners, the weather is going to be a bit warm. Because of that, the medical community is preparing for possible heat-related illnesses.

"We've seen over the years that the higher the temperature, the increased amount of illness and the different types of illness we associate with hot weather," Dr. Matthew Mostofi, an emergency physician at Tufts Medical Center, told GBH News.

Mostofi said in addition to hyperthermia, he expects to see some patients with dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities, which can happen when the body gets low on sodium due to prolonged sweating.

"Remember, these runners are expending a lot of energy. And this energy gets expended in propulsion — moving them forward down the race track — but also gets expended in heat liberation, so they are generating a lot of heat as they exercise," he explained.

His hospital has boosted its staffing in anticipation of increased patient volume today, he said.

The marathon always attracts some big personalities, but two of the biggest could be found spreading some joy at the marathon finish line Sunday: a 240-pound, nine-and-a-half year old English Mastiff, Odin, and his 190-pound puppy pal, Fenrir.

Esteban Bustillos GBH News

Dave Griepsma told GBH News he brought the dogs up from South Carolina as part of an annual tradition of lifting runners' spirits ahead of the big race.

"The other thing my wife and I love about them is when we come out, it doesn't matter what race, what class, what color religion, all of it, the politics, it all goes away," Griepsma said. "And everybody sees a happy, big dog and they get to love on him. And we get to share a little bit of a bond with people. And that's why we do it. We love it."