Boston weekend — 5K winners
- Boston Marathon weekend is underway with expos and thousands of runners and supporters in town for race events. - Ethiopia’s Yihune and Hambese won the Boston 5K titles, and Marcel Hug will attempt his ninth Boston Marathon title on Monday. - Organizers have elite and mass events converging this weekend as the 130th Boston Marathon build‑up shifts into final race logistics ( ).
Ethiopia swept the Boston 5K on Saturday, with Addisu Yihune and Gela Hambese winning as Boston Marathon weekend moved into its final day before Monday’s race. (baa.org) Yihune, 23, won the men’s race in 13:14 and took a $5,000 event-record bonus after breaking Ben True’s 2017 mark of 13:20. Hambese, also 23, won the women’s race and repeated as champion; both winners earned $8,000. (baa.org) The Boston Athletic Association said 9,280 runners finished the 5K, a slight increase from 9,144 last year. The race started near Boston Common and ended at the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street. (baa.org, baa.org) The 5K is one of several public events that turn Boston Marathon weekend into a citywide festival before the main race. The Boston Athletic Association lists 30,000 participants for Monday’s 130th Boston Marathon, with athletes coming to the start in Hopkinton and finishing in Copley Square. (baa.org) That Monday schedule compresses elite racing and mass participation into a few hours. Men’s wheelchair racers start at 9:06 a.m., women’s wheelchair at 9:09 a.m., professional men at 9:37 a.m., professional women at 9:47 a.m., and Wave 1 of the open field at 10:00 a.m., with Wave 6 leaving at 11:21 a.m. (wmur.com, boston.com) The weekend also sets up one of Boston’s most familiar storylines in wheelchair racing. Marcel Hug is seeking his ninth Boston Marathon title on Monday, according to race-week coverage of the 5K and marathon field. (runningusa.org, olympics.com) Boston’s scale has grown this year. WPRI reported that more than 32,000 runners from more than 130 countries are expected in Massachusetts for race day, while the Boston Athletic Association says more than 10,000 volunteers support the marathon from start to finish. (sports.yahoo.com, baa.org) By Sunday, the weekend’s racing was largely done and the logistics had taken over: final bib pickups, spectator planning, transit warnings and wave assignments. On Monday, the winners on Boylston Street will change, but the route from Hopkinton to Boston will stay the center of the weekend. (sports.yahoo.com, baa.org)
