Boston Marathon weather & starts

About 30,000 runners are in Massachusetts for Monday’s 130th Boston Marathon, where a cold, windy forecast is expected to shape the morning from Hopkinton to Boylston Street. (cbsnews.com) The Boston Athletic Association says the race will be run on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 20, 2026, with 30,000 participants and a course that ends in Boston after starting in Hopkinton. (baa.org) Race morning starts just after 9 a.m., with the men’s wheelchair division scheduled for 9:06 a.m., the women’s wheelchair division for 9:09 a.m., handcycles and duos at 9:30 a.m., professional men at 9:37 a.m., professional women at 9:47 a.m., and Wave 1 at 10:00 a.m. (wmur.com) The weather outlook calls for cooler conditions than the warm spell that preceded race weekend, with temperatures in the 40s for much of the race and gusty wind expected along the route. WMUR reported the high could challenge the record for the coldest Boston Marathon high temperature. (wmur.com) The start procedure changed this year. The Boston Athletic Association moved from four start waves to six, saying the smaller groups are meant to improve bus loading, athlete flow in Hopkinton, and density on the course while keeping the 30,000-runner field size unchanged. (baa.org) The field is still spread across the same 11:30 a.m. start-line cutoff and 5:30 p.m. finish-line closing time, but the six waves now range from about 3,200 to 7,100 runners instead of four groups of roughly 7,500. (baa.org) Before the race, the final stop for runners is the Boston Marathon Expo at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center at 900 Boylston St., where athletes must pick up their own bib numbers. The expo runs through Sunday, April 19, and is free and open to the public. (baa.org; baa.org) Expo hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, with sponsor booths, merchandise, and stage programming filling the last full weekend before the race. (baa.org; wcvb.com) By Monday morning, the setup will be simple: layered spectators, bundled runners in Hopkinton, and a staggered stream of starters beginning just after 9 a.m. and continuing until the last wave clears before 11:30 a.m. (wmur.com; wmur.com)