Boston Marathon

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The Boston Marathon is an annual race hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world’s best-known road racing events.

Boston Marathon Live!  –> Boston Marathon Results!

It is one of five World Marathon Majors. Today, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) manages this event. The event attracts 500,000 spectators each year, making it New England’s most widely viewed sporting event. Though starting with 18 participants in 1897, the event now attracts an average of about 20,000 registered participants each year, with 26,895 people entering in 2011.

Website: Boston Marathon | Apr 15, 2013

Events

• Boston Marathon
• B.A.A. 5K
• B.A.A. Invitational Mile
• B.A.A. Distance Medley

Start Times

• Boston Marathon
  

  Division	Start time	approx no. of entrants	bib color
  Mobility Impaired	9:00 a.m.	6
  Wheelchair Division	9:17 a.m.	30
  Handcycles	9:22 a.m.	24
  Elite Women	9:32 a.m.	50
  Elite Men & Wave One	10:00 a.m.	9,000	Red
  Wave Two	10:20 a.m.	9,000	White
  Wave Three	10:40 a.m.	9,000	Blue

Boston Marathon 2013 Registration Process

Registration for the 2013 Boston Marathon begin on Monday, September 10, 2012 at 10:00 ET and will close on Friday, September 21 at 5:00 p.m. ET (or until we reach maximum capacity). Registration will occur on a “rolling admission” schedule, beginning with the fastest qualifiers. For more details, check out 2013 Boston Marathon Registration process.

Qualifying Criteria

Check out the qualifying criteria for the 2014 Boston Marathon. The criteria remains unchanged from last year. Also, check out the top Boston Marathon qualifying races and charities for the Boston Marathon.

Course / Route Map

The 2012 Boston Marathon will follow the historic, 26.2 mile, point-to-point course which begins in the Town of Hopkinton, includes Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, and Brookline, and finishes in Boston’s Back Bay at Copley Square. Check out more route details.

The Boston Marathon is considered to be one of the more difficult marathon courses because of the Newton hills, which culminate in Heartbreak Hill near Boston College. While the three hills on Commonwealth Avenue (Route 30) are better known, a preceding hill on Washington Street (Route 16), climbing from the Charles River crossing at 16 miles (26 km), is regarded by Dave McGillivray, the long-term race director, as the course’s most difficult challenge. This hill, which follows a 150-foot (46 m) drop in a half-mile stretch, forces many lesser-trained runners to a walking pace.

Time Limits and Cutoffs

The course time limit for the marathon is 6 hours. Runners still out on the course when officials determine that it is time to reopen the roads (approximately a 15-minute per mile pace) will be instructed to move to the right side of the road. The B.A.A. will use a timing tag attached to the back of your bib number to score the race.

Water Stops

• From mile two to mile 25, there will be hydration stations at every mile on both sides of the road. Each station will first have four tables of Lemon-Lime Gatorade Endurance Formula, and the remaining tables will have Poland Spring water.
• As you approach the hills of Newton, be sure to fuel up at the PowerBar Gel Station at Mile 17. Volunteers will be on both sides of the road, and will be wearing different colored shirts to designate which of the six flavors they’re distributing.

Prize Money/ Awards

Course Records

• Men’s Open: Geoffrey Mutai (Kenya), 2:03:02, 2011
• Women’s Open: Margaret Okayo (Kenya), 2:20:43, 2002
• Men’s Masters: John Campbell (New Zealand), 2:11:04, 1990
• Women’s Masters: Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova (Russia), 2:27:58, 2002
• Men’s Wheelchair: Joshua Cassidy (Canada), 1:18:25, 2012
• Women’s Wheelchair: Wakako Tsuchida (United States), 1:34:06, 2011

T-Shirts, Medals, Certificates

• All participants receive a long sleeved t-shirt
• All runners who finish by 4:45 p.m. will receive a medal after crossing the finish line.
• No finisher’s certificates will be issued on site, but will be mailed to all finishers once all of the results are made official.

Race Day Weather

The temperature typically varies from 43°F to 53°F and is rarely below 36°F or above 67°F. Sustained wind speeds typically vary from 11 mph to 15 mph (gentle breeze to moderate breeze) over the course of the day.

Results And  Past Winners

Results of past years of the event are available on our Boston Marathon Results page.