The Boston Marathon will mark its 130th race this year. Here’s everything you need to know about the storied marathon.
When is the 2026 Boston Marathon
The 2026 Boston Marathon will be run on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 20, 2026.
Patriots’ Day, which falls on the third Monday in April, marks the historic battles of Lexington and Concord at the start of the American Revolution. The holiday is celebrated in both Massachusetts and Maine, which at the time of the battles was part of Massachusetts.
Where to watch the 2026 Boston Marathon
On TV: Watch the Boston Marathon on WCVB NewsCenter 5. Partner stations across the Northeast will be airing it, too: WMUR News 9 ABC (Manchester, NH), WMTW Channel 8 ABC (Portland/Auburn, ME), and WPTZ NBC5 (Burlington, VT/Plattsburgh, NY).
Streaming services: Stream the Boston Marathon through WCVB’s Very Local app.
How to watch in person along the 2026 Boston Marathon route
There’s 26.2 miles of a course to sidle up against. Landmarks include the Scream Tunnel in Wellesley at the race’s halfway point and Heartbreak Hill, the notorious Newton hill at Mile 20.
Every year, local officials warn spectators not to drive — especially not to the finish line in Copley Square. Use the MBTA to get around the Boston area and check to make sure the station you’re aiming for is open on race day.
Find recommended spectator spots along GBH News’ Boston Marathon route map below. Looking for ways to get here? Open the left menu and check the box next to “parking and transit” for suggestions.
What’s special about the Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is a high-profile race, and is one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. These marathons are known for attracting the biggest names in running.
Athletes can claim a Six Star medal for completing all of the original six Abbott World Marathon Majors: Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York and Tokyo. Sydney was recently added to the list of Abbot World Marathon Majors, and Cape Town and Shanghai are being considered as well.
How to track Boston Marathon runners
The Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the marathon, makes it easy to track runners through the B.A.A. Racing App. You can download the app for either iPhone or Android.
Search for individuals by their name or bib number, whether it’s a friend or professional athlete. Add them to your tracker to get updates on where they are on the course.
When do the runners start the 2026 Boston Marathon?
It depends on their speed and ability. The Boston Marathon start times are in waves and listed below.
- 9:06 a.m.: Men’s wheelchair
- 9:09 a.m.: Women’s wheelchair
- 9:30 a.m.: Handcycle and duo
- 9:37 a.m.: Professional men
- 9:47 a.m.: Professional women
- 9:50 a.m.: Para athletics
- 10:00 a.m.: Wave 1
- 10:25 a.m.: Wave 2
- 10:50 a.m.: Wave 3
- 11:15 a.m.: Wave 4
Who is running in the Boston Marathon
Amateur athletes compete fiercely to qualify for the race. They have to run another marathon below a certain qualifying time and hope it’s fast enough to beat out the tens of thousands who are also vying for a spot. This year, Boston qualifying times for men were 2:50:26, and 3:20:26 for women and nonbinary athletes.
Another roughly 3,000 runners are in it for charity. Last year, those athletes represented dozens of nonprofits, from Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center to the Red Sox Foundation to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and collectively raised more than $50 million.
Pro runners will also be competing for glory on Heartbreak Hill. All of last year’s champions will be returning to the course to try to defend their title and seek prizes.
The woman with the fastest time and man with the fastest time will each take home $150,000, with lower prizes going to the remaining top 10 finishers in those divisions. The top wheelchair racer will get $50,000, and the other top 10 finishers will also get some prize money. Professional athletes who set new course records in these divisions will also gain a $50,000 bonus.
Smaller prizes and course record bonuses are awarded to the top three finishers in the smaller wheelchair T51-52 division, masters division and para athletics divisions.
There are no cash prizes for other runners, but the Boston Athletic Association does send age group awards to the top three finishers in each age group and the top three finishers in the non-binary division.
In the professional men’s division:
- John Korir of Kenya won the men’s division last year with a time of 2:04:45, the second-fastest pace ever on the course. His brother Wesley won the division in 2012, making them the first set of brothers to both win the Boston Marathon.
- Benson Kipruto of Kenya won the Boston course in 2021 and won the New York City Marathon last year.
- Conner Mantz of the United States is looking like America’s best chance for a spot on the men’s podium. He finished less than 30 seconds behind Korir last year.
In the professional women’s division:
- Sharon Lokedi of Kenya won last year’s race and set a new course record of 2:17:22 — more than two-and-a-half minutes faster than the old record. She placed second in 2024.
- Irine Cheptai of Kenya is returning to the course after placing fourth in the division last year. She won third in the 2024 Chicago Marathon.
- Workenesh Edesa of Ethiopia set a Sydney Marathon course record in 2024, and won the Hamburg and Osaka divisions in 2025. She placed seventh in Boston in 2024.
In the men’s wheelchair division:
- Marcel Hug of Switzerland — nicknamed “the Silver Bullet” — has won his division eight times. He set the course record of 1:15:33 in 2024 despite a crash in Newton, and even broke his own record from the year before.
- Daniel Romanchuk of the United States clinched Boston gold in 2022. He fractured his shoulder last year when he collided with a spectator at the Sydney Marathon and had to withdraw from the Chicago Marathon. He had his best-ever marathon time in Boston in 2024 at 1:20:37.
- Josh Cassidy of Canada last won the division in 2012, setting the course record at the time with a finish at 1:18:25.
In the women’s wheelchair division:
- Susannah Scaroni of the United States won the division in 2025 and 2023. The Washington state native also won her division in the the Sydney, Chicago and New York marathons last year.
- Manuela Schär of Switzerland has won Boston four times, most recently in 2022. Schär had a dominant run in 2019, winning the division in all six World Marathon Majors (before Sydney was added as the seventh).
- Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Great Britain won the Boston course in 2024, becoming the first British woman ever to clinch the division.
