Boston Marathon
From Hopkinton to Boylston Street, the oldest and most storied marathon on earth still carries a charge no other race can replicate. You earn your way here, and the roar of the crowd makes every hard mile worth it.
The course.
Race-day weather.
Typically cool and partly cloudy in mid-April, with highs near 56°F and lows around 41°F. Rain is possible and wind direction can vary significantly, making conditions unpredictable.
Entry.
Runners must achieve a qualifying time meeting BAA age- and gender-based standards, then submit an application through the Athletes' Village portal during Registration Week in September 2026; due to field-size limits, only the fastest applicants are accepted, so runners typically need to beat their standard by several minutes. Entry is also available via the Official Charity Program, through which nonprofits recruit fundraising runners.
Register on race siteLogistics.
BOS, 3 mi from the start.
From the community.
Race history.
The Boston Marathon traces its founding to John Graham, a Boston Athletic Association member and manager of the first American Olympic team, who returned from the 1896 Athens Games convinced that Boston needed a marathon of its own. The inaugural race was held on April 19, 1897, and John J. McDermott of New York won in 2:55:10. It has been held every year since — including a virtual edition in 2020 when COVID forced the cancellation of the in-person race — making Boston the oldest annually contested marathon in the world.
Boston's cultural weight comes from two things working together: its qualifying standards and its date. Patriots' Day, the holiday commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, is the only American state holiday that exists primarily to host a marathon. For most amateur marathoners, "qualifying for Boston" is the longest-running aspirational goal in the sport — a finish line that means something specific even to people who never plan to run the race itself. The Hopkinton-to-Boylston point-to-point course, the Newton hills, and the famously raucous Wellesley scream tunnel are landmarks that runners reference long before they ever toe the start line. Boston is less a race than a credential.
First run in 1897. Roughly 29,025 finishers in a recent edition.