Boston Marathon set

Boston’s Marathon Monday is set for April 20, with the 130th Boston Marathon starting in Hopkinton at 9 a.m. Eastern and finishing in Boston. (baa.org) (espn.co.uk) The Boston Athletic Association expects 30,000 runners on race day from a field of 32,494 entrants, representing 137 countries and all 50 states. The course runs 26.2 miles from Main Street in Hopkinton to Boylston Street in Boston. (baa.org) (boston.com) Organizers changed the mass start for 2026 from four waves to six, with wave sizes ranging from 3,200 to 7,100 runners. The Boston Athletic Association said the shift is meant to ease bus loading, athlete-village crowding and course congestion while still getting everyone across the line before 11:30 a.m. (baa.org) The professional field brings back all four 2025 champions: Sharon Lokedi and John Korir in the open divisions, Susannah Scaroni and Marcel Hug in the wheelchair divisions. The Boston Athletic Association called it the first edition in which all four defending open and wheelchair champions return alongside the reigning American record holders, Conner Mantz and Emily Sisson. (baa.org) That lineup changed again in April when the Boston Athletic Association reported withdrawals, including Scaroni from the wheelchair field. The same April 3 update said Milkesa Mengesha and Ser-Od Bat-Ochir had been added to the men’s professional field. (baa.org) Prize money tops $1.48 million across the race’s divisions, with equal distribution for men and women in the open, masters and wheelchair races. The Boston Athletic Association also lists $50,000 course-record bonuses in both the open and wheelchair divisions. (wcvb.com) (baa.org) Television coverage starts before dawn in Boston and goes national at race time. WCVB begins local coverage at 4 a.m., while ESPN2 carries the race nationally from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with streaming on ESPN+, the WCVB app, Very Local and wcvb.com. (wcvb.com) (espn.co.uk) The weather forecast points to a runner-friendly but spectator-chilly day. CBS Boston said temperatures should start near 40 degrees in Hopkinton, rise only into the mid-to-upper 40s in Boston, and stay mostly dry with a northwesterly crosswind of 10 to 25 miles per hour. (cbsnews.com) Spectators are being told to plan around a point-to-point course and early road closures, especially in Hopkinton, where closures are expected from about 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Boston Athletic Association says its racing app includes live tracking, leaderboards, weather and course maps for race day. (baa.org) By Monday morning, the familiar setup returns: buses out to Hopkinton, waves of runners moving west to east, and Boylston Street waiting at the end. This year’s difference is the spacing — more start waves, cooler air and another full field headed for Boston. (baa.org) (cbsnews.com)