04/20/26 08:24:00
Printable Page
04/20 08:23 CDT And they're off: Wheelchair racers lead fastest Boston Marathon
field ever over the starting line
And they're off: Wheelchair racers lead fastest Boston Marathon field ever over
the starting line
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON (AP) --- Temperatures in the 30s, with frost on the ground, greeted the
field for the 130th Boston Marathon as it gathered for the start in Hopkinton
on Monday morning --- a cold day but one that could lead to record times from
the fastest field in the race's history.
Fifty wheelchair athletes were first over the starting line in Hopkinton on
Monday morning as more than 30,000 runners lined up to follow them on the
26.2-mile (42.195-kilometer) trek to Copley Square.
Sharon Lokedi, who shattered the women's course record last year, is back, and
fellow Kenyan John Korir goes for another win in the men's race a year after
posting the third-fastest time in Boston history. On the 50th anniversary of
the "Run for the Hoses," when Jack Fultz won in temperatures approaching 100
degrees (38 degrees Celsius), cool weather greeted the runners in Hopkinton and
was expected to reach into the 40s during the day.
Fultz, who was serving as grand marshal, said as he waited to board his ride
that the weather was the "polar opposite" from the day of his 1976 win.
"I am just trying to soak it all in, to remember it all," he said. "There are
almost are no words to fully describe the kind of experience. You have a dream
of a lifetime and all of a sudden it comes true."
A tailwind was expected to help the competitors as they make their way to
Boston's Back Bay.
Runners may notice some changes this year, with the race turning to a crowd
scientist for help in spreading things out a little so they don't face
bottlenecks on the narrow streets of the eight cities and towns along the
course. At the start is a new statue of and by marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb ---
the first statue on the course honoring a woman.
Race Director Dave McGillivray sent the group of about 50 members of the
Massachusetts National Guard members off at 6 a.m. McGillivray said it's the
coldest start he could remember in his nearly four decades working at the race.
Staff Sgt. Mackenzie Smith and Spec. Benjamin De Boer stepped back and forth to
try to stay warm before they set off on the course, but the cold didn't dampen
their enthusiasm for participating in the Boston Marathon for the first time.
"It's an honor and a blessing to be standing at the Boston Marathon start,"
Smith said. "The history that goes with the marathon resonates with me, growing
up in Massachusetts."
McGillivray said the cold added another layer of complexity because runners
were arriving in Hopkinton with many layers of extra clothing that would be
discarded at the start line and need to be collected. But as the sun comes out,
he said it will be ideal for running.
___
Associated Press Writer Jennifer McDermott in Hopkinton, Mass., contributed to
this report.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
|
