Boston Marathon update
The 130th Boston Marathon is scheduled for Monday, April 20, with all four defending champions listed to compete and organizers forecasting cooler-than-normal race-day temperatures. ( ) Local coverage notes 28 Lane County residents are entered and highlights Diza Hilles, who ran last year in 3:58:35 — roughly a 9-minute-per-mile average for 26.2 miles. (lookouteugene-springfield.com)
Boston’s Marathon Monday is five days away, with the 130th running set for April 20 and 30,000 entrants expected from Hopkinton to Boylston Street. (baa.org) The Boston Athletic Association says this year’s race will, for the first time it believes, bring back all four defending open and wheelchair champions in the same edition. Sharon Lokedi, John Korir, Susannah Scaroni, and Marcel Hug are all on the start list. (baa.org) That headline field has shifted in the past two weeks. American record holder Conner Mantz, who was announced in December as a top United States contender, withdrew on April 1 after saying his fitness had not progressed enough after an injury-interrupted buildup. (baa.org, boston.com) Race organizers have also changed the mass start format. The Boston Athletic Association moved from four start waves to six for 2026, with open-division runners starting between 10:00 a.m. and 11:21 a.m. after wheelchair, handcycle, duo, professional, and para-athletics starts just after 9 a.m. (baa.org, boston.com) The race still sits at the center of the spring marathon calendar. Olympics.com lists Boston as the second Abbott World Marathon Majors stop of 2026, and the Boston Athletic Association notes athletes are coming from more than 130 countries and all 50 states. (olympics.com, baa.org) The course remains the same 26.2-mile point-to-point route from Hopkinton into downtown Boston, and 2026 marks the 130th running of a race that began in 1897. That history is part of why even local entrant lists draw attention well beyond Massachusetts. (olympics.com, baa.org) One of those local lists came from Oregon, where Lookout Eugene-Springfield reported 28 Lane County residents are entered this year. The outlet highlighted Eugene runner Diza Hilles, who finished the 2025 Boston Marathon in 3:58:35 and qualified to return for her 12th Boston and 20th marathon overall. (lookouteugene-springfield.com) Early weather forecasts point to a cooler race than the warm spell New England is seeing this week. WMUR reported on April 13 that temperatures are expected to cool by Monday in conditions that should favor runners more than spectators. (wmur.com) By Monday morning, the attention will narrow from forecasts and entry lists to the road itself: first the wheelchair athletes just after 9, then the professionals, then six waves of runners chasing Boston across eight towns. (boston.com, baa.org)
