70‑year‑old’s 41st Boston

A 70-year-old man is lining up for the Boston Marathon for the 41st time, and this year his son Nick is running it with him for the first time. The race is set for Monday, April 20, 2026, which makes the father-son pairing part of the 130th running of an event that has been around since 1897. (nationaltoday.com) (baa.org) (britannica.com) Michael Davis has already run Boston 40 times, and one report says 36 of those appearances were consecutive. Nick Davis is coming in from a very different background: he performed professionally onstage for more than 10 years before shifting into fitness. (sports.yahoo.com) That contrast is part of why this story lands. Boston is not a marathon people casually enter; the Boston Athletic Association says runners had to post qualifying times during a window that ran from September 1, 2024, to September 12, 2025, just to apply for the 2026 race. (baa.org) For men ages 70 to 74, the published qualifying standard for the 2026 race was 4 hours and 20 minutes. That means Michael Davis is not just showing up at 70; he is still fast enough to meet the benchmark for one of the hardest marathons to get into. (flotrack.org) (baa.org) The setting adds another layer. The Boston Marathon starts in Hopkinton and finishes on Boylston Street in Boston, and it is traditionally held on Patriots’ Day, the Massachusetts holiday tied to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. (cnn.com) (baa.org) (bpl.org) Boston has always liked stories that stretch across generations. The Boston Athletic Association’s history page points to milestones like Bobbi Gibb’s 1966 run, Kathrine Switzer’s bibbed finish in 1967, and the official women’s division in 1972, which is another way of saying this race keeps folding new people into an old tradition. (baa.org) This year’s Davis story fits that pattern almost perfectly. A father who has made Boston part of his life for decades is returning again, and a son who once built his career around Broadway-style performance is stepping into the same course for the first time. (nationaltoday.com) (sports.yahoo.com) By race day, Michael Davis will be chasing finish number 41 on a 26.2-mile course, while Nick Davis will be learning the route the hard way every first-timer does, from Hopkinton through the hills to Boylston. In a marathon best known for elite winners and strict cutoffs, one of the clearest storylines this April is simply a father and son reaching the same starting line at the same time. (britannica.com) (cnn.com) (baa.org)