Boston Marathon set for April 20

On Monday, April 20, Boston turns into a 26.2-mile corridor from Hopkinton to Boylston Street, and the city is already telling people not to drive in because parking bans and street closures will stack up across Marathon Weekend and Patriots’ Day. (boston.gov) This is the 130th Boston Marathon, and the Boston Athletic Association says 30,000 participants will be on the course. The same organization staged the first Boston Marathon in 1897, which is why Boston still sells this race as the oldest annual marathon in the world. (baa.org, baa.org) Getting into this race is harder than just running a fast marathon somewhere else. The Boston Athletic Association received 33,249 qualifier applications for 2026, but only 24,362 qualified applicants were accepted, and runners needed to beat their age-group standard by 4 minutes and 34 seconds just to make the cut. (baa.org) That leaves thousands of spots to be filled another way. The rest of the field includes invited professional athletes, para athletes, and charity runners, with 193 nonprofit groups selected for the 2026 official charity program and charity entries making up almost 10% of the total field. (baa.org, baa.org) Those charity bibs have become a fundraising machine. In 2025, the official charity program raised a record $50.4 million, and since the program began in 1989, Boston Marathon fundraising has topped $600 million. (baa.org) The course is point-to-point, not a loop, which is why race day scrambles so much of eastern Massachusetts. Spectator guidance from the Boston Athletic Association says Hopkinton roads are expected to be closed from about 7:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Ashland from about 7:00 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., and Framingham from about 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. (baa.org) Boston’s own traffic advisory adds another layer because Marathon Weekend also includes the Boston Athletic Association 5K and Invitational Mile on Saturday, April 18, and the city’s Patriots’ Day Parade on Monday, April 20. The city is urging people to use the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority instead of personal cars and to buy round-trip transit tickets in advance. (boston.gov) Even the race has a built-in deadline for reopening roads. The Boston Athletic Association says runners still on the course when officials begin restoring traffic flow, roughly a 13 minutes 44 seconds per mile pace, can be directed to the right side of the road, and finish-area facilities close at about 5:30 p.m. (baa.org) If you are trying to watch in person, Boston’s organizers are basically telling you to think like a commuter, not a driver. The official spectator guide points people to train stops in towns like Ashland and Framingham because the easiest way to see runners in more than one place is to follow the course by rail as the race moves east toward Boston. (baa.org) By the time the lead pack reaches Boylston Street, the race will be carrying 129 years of history, a field capped at 30,000, and a charity program that now moves tens of millions of dollars in one weekend. That mix of elite sport, local logistics, and civic ritual is why one Monday in April can reroute an entire region. (baa.org, baa.org, baa.org)